Reuniting
by Spudwick13
Summary: The Loonatics suffered a large defeat some 15 years before and the team split up. After all this time they've decided to get together and get caught up and maybe even save the world. Rated T for violence and slight alcohol and sexual references.
1. Prologue

**Thanks to those of you who are tuning in. Buckle up, you're in for quite the ride**

**-o-**

Prologue: Rupture

_"No I don't believe you; when you say don't come around anymore. I won't remind you; you said we wouldn't be apart… ~I Don't Believe You – P!nk_

**-o-**

_Acmetropolis - 2775_

"Alright 'chief!' Care to explain what _that _was all about?"

"Duck, don't…"

"Don't even!" Duck rounded on the female hare. "You're so blind! You always stick up for him even when you know in your gut what he's doing is wrong! I mean, did you _see_ what he just did?" The mallard was steaming as he turned back to his leader.

"Speaking of blind –"

"All right Duck," barked Tech E. Coyote as he got joined the others in the commons of their headquarters after parking their dragon shaped space ship in his garage. Tech looked beyond tired and, quite frankly, pissed.

"Not you too! Why can't you all get it through your thick skulls that our _great_ leader isn't perfect?"

"Duck we're all quite aware that Ace's actions weren't… the wisest," he glanced at Ace before continuing, "But don't you think you're overreacting a bit?" The team had just gotten back from possibly their most grueling mission yet. All of them had almost died and it was all because of a call Ace had made, and he was well aware of this.

Throughout this whole argument, Ace had stayed silent. He feared that if he spoke, his angry thoughts would transfer to his mouth the last thing he needed was to make this whole situation worse. It was the first time the team had ever lost. _Ever_.

The defeat probably got to the bunny more than the rest of the team, he was their leader after all, but it got to him even more that he was the one who caused it. He knew that he probably deserved each word escaping Duck's bill, but with each word, anger at Duck boiled inside him, hating the mallard for trying to find flaws in _everything_ he did.

"Duck, _please_ calm down," Lexi said, pleading in her voice but he paid her no mind. Looking desperately around her for help, Lexi couldn't help but realize that Slam and Rev had been silent this whole time, though she couldn't say she blamed them for wanting to keep out of the argument. She could feel the atmosphere growing thicker with every passing second. She could also tell from the look on Ace's face that he was about to blow any second.

"Me? Overreact?" Duck asked, sounding exasperated. "Are you kidding me, Ace almost killed us all! It's just like the Deuce incident, he trusted the wrong person and it cost us the entire mission."

That so did it.

"So this whole thing is my fault just because I trust people easily? You're crazy, Duck." Ace was glaring at the mallard to intently that they were afraid for a moment that Duck might be a victim to Ace's laser vision.

"No, this whole thing is your fault because you were so blinded by trust that you failed to see the signs that this guy was going to turn on us. We even _warned_ you."

Ace was completely at loss for words, everyone was against him here. There was just no way to win… "How was I supposed to know he was gonna…? I don't – I just…"

Duck sneered. "You can't even find an excuse for that," he laughed once without humor. "You're despicable."

Ace just stood there like a furious deer in the headlights and for a moment they all, even Ace, thought he was going to deck the mallard in the face. Instead, he just took a step back, the king of witty comebacks silenced, and glared. "If that's how you feel then I'm outta here."

Without another word, Ace smacked the button that opened the door and strutted out into the cold, and just to top it off it was beginning to rain. _How cliché _he thought bitterly as the headquarters disappeared from sight.

And he didn't look back once.

**-o-**

Back at HQ, a deafening silence consumed the room before Lexi bit her lip; shot Duck a look that screamed _how could you_ and disappeared out the door after Ace. The silence continued until Duck broke it again with a sigh. "I'm going home," he mumbled.

"News-flash-Duck," Rev said, speaking for one of the first times that night. "You-_are_-home. You-live-here."

Duck stared at Rev for a few seconds after the roadrunner had finished speaking. Whether it was because of his abnormally short sentence or if he was just choosing his words was unknown but finally Duck opened his mouth for a moment and then spoke. "Home is a place where you're supposed to feel like you belong. You're supposed to be supported at home." He said this slowly as if he wasn't sure how to put his thoughts into words.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "But you know, not _one_ of you supported me just now. So, I'm going back _home_." He copied the actions of his rabbit teammates by turning on his heal and leaving the headquarters.

**-o-**

The tension let up a bit after Duck had left but it didn't change the sheer awkwardness of what had just occurred. None of the three that were left spoke though Slam kept looking anxiously towards the door and scooting closer to it when he thought the other two weren't looking. Finally Tech sighed and met the Tasmanian devil's crimson eyes and said, "You can leave whenever you want to, you know."

Slam acknowledged with a low grunt but some uncertainty still showed in his eyes. "It's-okay," Rev assured him. "Really." Slam smiled and grunted again in thanks before walking out into the rain.

Over the next few hours, Tech and Rev made small talk, tried to act like everything was normal and that the others were just out for a stroll, but to no avail. Their thoughts kept trailing back to the argument and the fact that half of their team was pissed and the other half was caught in the middle and Tech began to wonder if Ace, Duck, Lexi and Slam were even coming back. His common sense doubted it but there was a small spot in his mind that hoped and prayed that they would show up tomorrow and things would be business as usual. But the realistic side of his brain shot the hope down every time.

When Rev declared at one in the morning that he was going to bed he took three steps in the general direction of his room before stopping and turning back to his best friend. "Tech… you-know-as-well-as-I-do-the-chances-of-them-coming-back-are-"

"They'll be back," Tech responded firmly, trying to sound calm, cutting the roadrunner off. Rev merely stared at him for a long moment before bidding him goodnight again and while Rev went to bed Tech just wandered into his lab hoping to be preoccupied by his creations.

**-o-**

After ten minutes of stumbling around in the rain, Lexi's sopping clothes clung to her body, she was cold, she felt as if she'd just climbed out of a swimming pool, and was just mad. Mad at Duck for blowing up at Ace, mad at Ace for losing his cool (not something he did often), mad at Rev and Slam for not helping her, and mad at herself for following Ace not knowing where in the world he'd gone.

Deciding it was a lost cause to look for Ace in the dark and in the rain, she slumped into the safety of a lawn chair on a coffee shop's covered patio. By now, it was raining so hard she could barely see the outline of the store across the street; she was surprised she could even see her hand in front of her face while out there. Sighing, Lexi leaned back in the chair, cringing as her cold, wet clothing pressed against her back, and closing her eyes so that her hearing and smell were the only senses the rain infiltrated.

Where could Ace have gone? Revision: Where would she have gone had she been in Ace's position? Well she would probably have run crying home to her parents. Although, she distinctly remembered Ace telling her once that his parents had died in a traffic accident when he was fifteen; this left only the 'home' part of her theory still good to go.

She remembered where Ace had lived before the meteor crash three years before, he'd shown it to her once and she was almost certain she remembered the location… not far from HQ, she remembered that much. She should be able to find it from where she was now.

Slowly, Lexi lifted her body from the lawn chair and started to walk toward the street when one of the signs caught her attention. Naturally, she stepped back to get a better view and it said: "Have a nice day!" in big yellow against red lettering with a big smiley face below. She scoffed at it and started into the rain. "Too late," she muttered bitterly.

It couldn't have been five minutes later that Lexi came across the set of apartments that Ace had shown her about a year back.

They were run down and several things including the locks to the front doors, and the air conditioning no longer worked. The buildings had to be about 150 years old. Then again, with the salary Ace had, he was lucky to have gotten a place at all.

She crossed to the building Ace had shown her and opened the always unlocked door.

He was here all right, she could tell from the moment she stepped inside the door. Lexi heard a loud crash, a moan and the creak of aged springs as Ace sank onto a bed or couch or something of that nature.

As Lexi headed into the main room, she couldn't help but take in how dusty everything was, it was more than likely that no one had been here since Ace was last present. She took cautious steps and once she walked into the main room, her eyes widened as she looked around herself at his apartment.

Apparently in an uncontrollable fir of rage, Ace had overturned several chairs and had tossed his collapsed Guardian Strike Sword against the wall and into a pile of CDs, probably causing the crash she'd heard.

Ace was lying on the couch breathing heavily with one leg lazily dangling off the side and Lexi came to the conclusion that the worst was probably over and walked toward the male rabbit's still figure. "Ace?"

He jumped a mile into the air and shot into a sitting position, his eyes then fixed on her and narrowed. "Ya know Lex, there's this new, great thing. It's knocking."

Lexi smiled shyly. "You wouldn't have answered the door if I had." She walked over and sat on the couch at his feet, placing a hand carefully on his leg just above his knee. "Sorry though."

Grunting he lay back down heavily. "You're probably right," he murmured, a matter of fact tone to his voice and he spoke so softly that Lexi wasn't sure id he meant for her to hear.

Nonetheless, she scooted the tinniest bit closer and rubbed his leg softly where her hand lay. In a whisper she asked, "Are you all right?" The question was almost rhetorical, the answer was so obvious. He was _so_ not all right.

Ace didn't answer right away. Instead, he brought his hands to his face and groaned before letting his palms crash onto the couch next to him. "I've been better."

There was a small stretch of silence before Ace took a breath that sounded far too loud in the quiet and said, "I'd feel even better if you got your hand out from between my legs." Lexi was stunned a little by the comment but then she realized her hand had traveled from the top of his leg to the inside of Ace's knee.

"Ah," she said a little louder that she intended and immediately shifted her hand to the top of his leg again, a blush beginning to decorate her cheeks. Ace just chuckled and sat up so that his eyes could meet hers. Lexi could see a light smirk on his lips that didn't quite reach his eyes. Those were still filled with anguish.

Almost without comprehending she was doing it, she scooted over closer to him still, so that she was almost sitting on Ace's feet. The male bunny looked down, realizing this, and then met her jade green eyes. "Whatcha doin' Lex?" There was slight amusement in Ace's voice.

She looked down. What _was_ she doing? It wasn't as if she was _attracted_ to him or anything. Ace was her best friend. Her talented, funny, handsome best friend, yes but still her best friend. She looked back up at him and realized that he wanted an answer. "I – erm… I don't know… I just –"

Ace smiled at her apparent inability to answer and leaned forward so that his face was mere inches from hers. "Are you sure about that?" His voice was barely a whisper.

Lexi swallowed and opened her mouth to answer. Though before she could speak, Ace's smirk widened and he pressed his mouth suddenly against hers.

She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe; she could only feel Ace's body pressed against hers and his mouth caressing her own. For one moment, nothing else mattered, nothing was wrong. For that one moment, everything was perfect.

**-o-**

Oh God.

Duck smacked his head against the hard, brick wall of the alleyway. He groaned and took a swig of beer from the brown glass bottle in his hand. While observing the liquid in his hand, he sang slowly and under his breath: "Happy birthday to me… happy birthday to me…"

_Quite the way to spend your twenty-first birthday, eh? _Duck snorted in disgust and threw his head against the wall once again. This had to officially be _the_ crappiest birthday ever, because nothing screams happy birthday like fighting with your boss and possibly losing your career.

He absolutely hated what had just gone down. Him… Ace… the team… the loss. It killed him and he didn't like what happened anymore than the rest of them. In fact, it probably hit him harder than a large portion of the team, probably because he felt like part of it was his fault.

Duck forced a snort and tilted the bottle toward his mouth. _Your fault? Seriously man. Ace's doing ten times more than it was yours… that guy shouldn't be so quick to trust people and give them second chances, it was him that started the whole thing so don't go blaming yourself._

Duck had been forcing himself to think this way. He didn't want to feel worse about the whole thing than he actually did… but something lingered in the back of the mallard's mind while he was thinking this: _If that's how Ace really was, I'd have been out of the team long ago…_

A grunt caused Duck to raise his head and see a large figure approaching. He squinted and as the figure came into view, he could see the silhouette of his best Tasmanian devil friend in the darkness. "Hey, Slam. How're things?" It was a stupid question, he knew.

It was then Duck noticed the package Slam was carrying. "Aw man, you didn't!" A shy smile crept up Slam's face as he handed the cardboard box over to Duck.

Upon lifting the lid, Duck's eyes met a half eaten cake that had once said "Happy Birthday!" but only half of each word was available now that the cake was, in fact, half eaten. Slam looked sheepish but Duck only grinned. "Thanks buddy," he managed before wrapping his friend in as good a hug as he could give the large creature, not something he normally did. _Holy crap, this alcohol is finally going to my head._

Slam simply smiled and returned the embrace, nearly crushing the mallard. When he finally let go what had simply been a drizzle before was quickly turning into a downpour.

"Let's go," a gasping Duck managed. "All this rain and humidity can't be good for my feathers." Smiling, he tossed the nearly finished beer into a nearby dumpster, grabbed the half-eaten cake and set off onto the street with his best friend.

**-o-**

When Rev got up the next morning he found Tech tinkering with various creations in his lab. Tech hadn't gone to bed all night, waiting for one of their other teammates to show up, but no dice. Tech had spent the whole night finishing or modifying random inventions of his that had been used once and never touched again.

"Hey-Tech?" Rev was nervously playing with his hands as he spoke. Tech acknowledged him with a smile and slid a stool the roadrunner's way. Instead of taking a seat on the stool though, Rev just placed his jittery hands on its surface.

"I-hate-to-bring-this-up-because-I-know-you'll-hate-it-just-as-much-as-I-do-but-you-know-it-_is_-the-truth-and-I-feel-I-really-should-mention-it-just-because-it-seems-like-the-right-thing-to-do-not-because-I-want-to-talk-about-it-so-please-don't-think-that-"

"Rev," the coyote said, snapping his beak closed with his hand. "Just get to the point."

Rev's face suddenly filled with regret. "Gee-Tech…I'm-really-really-really-really-really-really-really-really-really-really-really-really-sorry-but-I-just-don't-see-the-point-in-staying-here-if-they're-not-coming… back."

Tech put down the screwdriver he was holding and looked down. "You're probably right, Rev."

"So… You'll-come-with-me?"

Forcing a smile, Tech lifted his head to meet his friend's jade green eyes. "Sure thing, Rev. You go on ahead, I'll just stay put and clean some things out a little."

"Yeah-'cause-we-won't-be-out-long-will-we-Tech?"

"I hope not."

Silence ensured before Rev spoke again. "You-need-help?"

"No, I think I'm fine, it won't take long."

"Thanks-Tech-see-ya-'round!" The coyote blinked and when he opened his eyes the roadrunner had vanished. Sighing, Tech reached into a drawer next to him and pulled out a picture.

This picture was of the team three years ago when they'd just met. No matter when it was, the picture always caused him to smile, just at how different everyone was now, Ace with the biggest noticeable difference.

In the picture Ace looked like a laid back slacker who did nothing but lounge around and make sexual jokes. The fitting t-shirt advertising some sports company, the baggy jeans, and bulky tennis shoes. Tech remembered taking one look at him and thinking, _you're kidding, that's our leader? Oh no… we're dead._ Ace had just matured and become so much more sophisticated just over the course of three years. It was weird to think about how he was back then, nowadays.

Something about the photo caught Tech's eye and he squinted to try and make out what it was, but rolled his eyes when he figured out that Ace's hand was the object at Lexi's waist. When the team had first gotten together, Ace and Lexi had flirted so much the immaturity had made him sick to watch at times. Over time, though, Ace had backed off dramatically and the two actually became best friends. Lexi never stopped being a kiss up though…

Tech took a moment to observe himself in the photograph; standing on Ace's other side, grinning ear to ear.

His whole life he's been the little nerdy kid in the back. To young to fit in socially due to the fact he'd skipped more than a couple grades, going from kindergarten straight into the second grade and whenever something was far too easy to him, they moved right on up. He had his seventh birthday in fifth grade.

Anyone would look at him and he could practically hear them think 'Look at that little squirt.' Tech had _always_ been second guessed. Misunderstood. Underestimated. The first time he'd ever felt appreciated was when he first shown the team his creations. The looks on their faces… Pure awe… His heart swelled. With the team, he felt whole, himself, _elated_.

And now… it was all gone. _Bam!_ Just like that. Last night… he'd lost everything.

Tech stayed at HQ for a good three days, gradually cleaning up the place and packing things away. It was only when he'd stripped the place practically bare that he stood back and groaned. "What am I still doing here?"

The forlorn coyote dressed in a casual button up shirt and jeans, slinging a windbreaker over his shoulders and opened the front door, took one last look at the commons and turned toward the street after locking their headquarters' door possibly for good.

As he stepped onto the street, Tech pressed a button on his watch and the screen let off an electric blue glow. The dark, straight edged numbers on the face read 9:30. He sighed then stopped dead when it dawned on him that he had nowhere to go. Before the meteor crash, he'd been living in a dorm at Acme Tech University and quit school when he was offered a job with the Loonatics.

A droplet of water on his muzzle brought the coyote back to the real world and he realized it was beginning to drizzle.

_C'mon, Tech. Remember, April showers bring May flowers!_

…Right.

All Tech knew was that he was feeling absolutely depressed and miserable

**-o-**

…What he did _not_ know was how he ended up in a bar.

Tech inspected his glass carefully, softly swirling the liquid inside, before downing it in a single shot.

His eyes drifted out of focus for a few seconds before she realigned them. Nope, he hadn't reached his goal yet.

"Bartender, another one."

The higher the percentage of alcohol in a drink, the smaller the servings it's given in. So Tech was forced to order shot after shot to achieve her goal of drowning himself in 200-proof antidepressant. It wasn't working.

He'd arranged a small pyramid of used shot glasses. The bartender carefully took the pyramid down, flipped one of the glasses, filled it, and handed it to Tech, he grabbed it and downed it in one gulp.

No, still not there.

He was still thinking about the team... how his life had just as well ended a few days ago

So he wasn't drunk enough.

A slim hooded figure sat down at the bar next to him, anxiously glancing over her shoulder. She signaled to the bartender and he nodded her way, tossing her a shot. The hooded girl raised her glass slightly to no one in particular before draining it with a grin. She then gathered her hood further around her face.

"What exactly is with the hood?" She practically jumped out of her skin and glanced sideways at him, it felt as though her jade green eyes were penetrating is soul. It felt sort of… eerie.

After taking a long look at him, the girl took a quick look behind her. Tech followed her gaze and saw a group of men maybe in their 20s who were clearly _not_ sober. Dancing around, bumping into and grinning stupidly at every cute girl who walked that way. Tech snorted. "Don't worry, I'm not _that_ drunk."

Chuckling, the girl cautiously dropped her hood. "Believe me; no one is happier than I." Tech hardly paid attention to her words though, the moment she dropped her hood he couldn't focus on anything but her face.

_Seriously Tech, what are you doing? You've never really been attracted to any girl before! She is, after all, just another girl. Keep it together._

But it was true. Tech had never been interested in women. Ever. It was just that simple. They were all the same: Look pretty, act dim, hope some guy will find you alluring. That was really all girls ever worried about. Yet… something told him she was different.

She giggled. "I'm Alex," she said with a smile.

"Tech," he said grinning back and before long he found himself talking to her… all night. And when she finally stood up, there was something in her eyes that said she had no intention of leaving alone and Tech _didn't_ find himself arguing, just staring into her eyes and forgetting _all _his problems.

**-o-**

**So, how did Spud do? If you feel like it, drop me a review and let me know. If you have something to say that doesn't involve cutting my kidneys out with sharp words, I'm all ears! ;)**

**This _will_ certainly exercise its T rating. You have been warned.**

**Once again, thank you all!**

**~Spud13**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey again, I rewrote this whole chapter over break, using better diction, description and stuff like that. I also added Tech, Rev, Slam and Duck to this chapter and their point of view of the situation. Hope it pleases!**

**Disclaimer: No one ever reads these, so I could ramble on about spotted zebras and galloping alpacas and no one would be able to tell the difference. Spotted zebras and galloping alpacas are awesome by the way, and as for ownership goes; the characters, all the locations and such are not mine, they all belong to Warner Bros. Lawsuits? No thank you.**

**-o-**

**Part 1: Under Construction**

"_This could be the start of something new…" ~Disney_

**-o-**

_Fifteen Years Later…_

"Dad?" A strong featured man stopped at the door to his little girl's room and looked back at her expectantly with warm eyes. "Do you think they'll like me?" The little girl inquired anxiously while sitting up in bed, gripping the sheets nervously and her bright blue eyes open with tense curiosity.

Her father sighed while she fidgeted. "Tech will think you're clever, Rev will think you're funny, Slam will think you're just incredible, and Duck… will think you're just like me."

"That's a good thing, right?"

He stood up, looking indignant. "I don't know whether to be insulted or…" he trailed off and smiled, face softening as his daughter began giggling. He began to leave as Kelsi spoke up again.

"Will they think I'm crazy?" What a question. But being nine didn't stop her from worrying about every little thing. Sitting down on the bed, he patted her legs twice firmly.

"Sweetheart," he began, searching for the right words. "You're the most beautiful, gifted nine year-old I know."

"I know." The seriousness on her round, child-like face triggered a grin from her father. "But will _they_ think I'm crazy?"

He thought a moment. "Yep," he decided and her eyes widened in horror. He chuckled before continuing. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"We all are, all the best people are. It's a great trait to have… So long as you're not _insane_-crazy," he amended. The little girl grinned before moving to her knees to embrace her father.

"Goodnight dad!"

"'Night, Kels'," he replied, returning the hug and kissing her forehead. "Get some sleep; we've got a big day ahead of us."

Ace removed himself from Kelsi's loving embrace before moving toward the room's exit. He turned around as he headed in the direction of the staircase to smile at his daughter and flick her bedroom lights off before heading downstairs.

"She down?" A voice inquired as Ace descended the flight of steps in his home. He turned to see Lexi looking at him warmly, keeping a finger inside her book to mark her place as she closed it.

"As this lovely tile floor," Ace responded smoothly with his signature smirk, tapping his yellow Converse shoes on the covered floorboards. He was serious in an instant though. "She's worried."

"We all are. Seeing the team for the first time in over a decade and all… I wonder if anyone but Tech knows about, well… _us_." Lexi glanced sideways at him.

He shrugged. "I only kept contact with Tech for a couple years after we… breaked. I'm pretty sure he, and everyone else for that matter, doesn't even know about Kelsi…" He trailed off and she casually glanced around the room while he struggled for words.

Still, she giggled. "Breaked? You mean broke?"

Ace's face turned pink and he turned away, nervously scratching the back of head. "Erm, yeah… I…" he turned to face her again. "I've heard it both ways," he finished effortlessly, smirk back in place as he sat down heavily next to his wife on the couch.

Lexi chuckled and brushed her bangs from her eyes. "I'm sure you have." Without warning, Ace slapped a hand to her shoulder. "I," he said with dramatic importance, "am going out." He then proceeded to get up just as dramatically and hold out a hand to help her up, small smile curving his lips.

Lexi rolled her eyes before taking his hand and letting out a soft grunt as her husband's strong arms caused her to lurch to her feet. She laughed and once again swept blonde bangs away from her face. "Whatever you want, I'm hitting the hay."

"It is only nine o'clock," he said seriously, still with that dramatic lust dripping from his voice that sounded odd with his accent.

"Knock it off," she said, raising her eyebrows and shoving him away. He laughed and walked toward the door.

"Nah, I'm just kiddin' with ya but why now?"

She grinned. "'We've got a big day tomorrow,'" she quoted him.

"Touché," he said nodding with a smirk. Lexi smiled before reaching over to give Ace a soft yet meaningful kiss on his lips and a good half a minute later, she pulled back while resisting a small laugh.

"'Night Ace," she murmured with a smile, heading up the stairs.

"G'night, Lex."

**-o-**

"You are _so_ _dead_!" Serena shoved Rade with everything she had and the teenage roadrunner laughed in a slow, deep voice much like his uncle's as he fell to the sandy earth.

"It isn't _my _fault you can't take a joke," he stated, voice slow and calm even through his laughs.

Serena laughed hollowly. "Can't take a joke my sweet patootie; that was plain cruel and you know it, Rade Runner."

Rade looked up at her with mock innocence. "What? You mean posting on YouBook that you were dating that horrible gangster was a _bad_ idea? …A shame your parents follow me…" Serena drove her knees into Rade's shoulder blades and forced his chest into the sand. Rolling his eyes, the roadrunner tried to shift into a more comfortable position but narrowed his eyes as he figured out that the girl was in just the right position to prevent him from doing much

Serena bent down so that her lips brushed his ear. "Do you realize how much trouble I was in?"

An evil grin. "What happened?"

She sighed, fuming. "You posted that I was dating Victor and mom and dad flipped out and became pissed. Then Victor saw it and became pissed—"

"Wait, you're still together?"

"Why? Are you jealous?"

"Not in the slightest."

Raising her eyebrows, Serena frowned before continuing. "But in answer to your inquiry, no we are _not_ still dating. Dad and mom made us break up and they were dead serious about monitoring my cell phone and where I go after six… my dad has his ways you know…"

"So basically all I did was piss everybody off?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"Nice!" Grinning, Rade caught a glimpse of her cold expression and quickly said, "Look at it this way, better pissed off than pissed off, right?" He was smirking as he tried to shift again to see her expression once more, causing her legs to dig rather uncomfortably into his back. No prevail. "Really how mature is this?" He winced as her legs changed position, smile gone. "I think your knees are dislocating my spine," he croaked dramatically. "But you did pop my back so I guess I should thank you for that."

The girl grinned wickedly and sat up. "Someday when we're married I might just do that in a less violent fashion."

Rade opened his mouth to retort when that last sentence sunk in. "Don't even go there. You play that stupid 'someday-when-we're-married' card and expect me to freak out and just allow you to do whatever you want."

"It always works, doesn't it?" Serena said with a smile. He glared. "But I guess I really don't get it…"

"What don't you get? This time, I mean," he asked carelessly, playing with a pebble in the sand since he'd given up on trying to get her away.

"There are plenty of guys who want to date me but you don't."

It was Rade's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Well done, Sherlock."

Ignoring his comment, she pressed on. "Why?"

He snorted. "You're kidding, right? All you do is tell me what to do, annoy me to death and, in this case, sit on me. Seriously, if our parents weren't friends I would be staying as far from you as possible." As he said this, Rade's stomach twisted ever so slightly, just like it always did whenever he said something like this to Serena. Like he was telling the biggest lie of his life. Thought he'd never admit it, Rade knew his life would be much more boring without her seemingly endless beautiful, sassy, stubborn spunk to deal with every day.

Her chuckle tore the roadrunner from his thoughts as she bent toward his ear again. "I doubt that." A pause. "That's pretty much what girlfriends do anyway, Rade." The coyote bit her lip, trying to contain a laugh at his expression. "So whataya say, dude?"

Rade didn't pretend to misunderstand her. "Nope."

"If you agree, I'll get off of you."

"Are you really stooping as low as blackmail? Are you really that desperate? Am I really that good looking?"

Serena raised an eyebrow. "Don't flatter yourself, birdbrain." A flash of hand caught her attention and she yelped as pressure was applied to the top of her knee, toppling off of the male's back.

"One plus to having our parents as friends is that your mom trusts me with the information on where you're ticklish. It's come in handy. Tell your mom thanks." Rade said this quickly and ran; knowing that if he stuck around any longer, the girl would probably murder him and bury the body.

From a distance in the shelter of Rev's porch, Tech and Rev watched the scene with smiles.

"Your-daughter-is-going-to-be-the-death-of-my-son," Rev stated, looking bemused.

Tech's response was halfway between a sigh and a chuckle. "Her personality resembles her mom's in a lot of ways…"

"I-guess-that's-a-good-thing-since-she's-practically-the-spitting-image-of-you… You-know-in-girl-form."

Tech smiled and sipped his mug of pitch black coffee. "Poor girl."

Rev snorted. "You'd-think! I-was-amazed-at-how-many-guys-she-had-to-say-no-to." The roadrunner paused. "Maybe-if-you-were-a-girl-you-would've-done-better." Tech smiled somewhat slyly.

"Oh, I think I did just fine on my own. Do you recall what Alex looked like after we first started dating?"

A scoff. "You-mean-_after_-she-was-already-pregnant-with-Serena?"

Tech kept his expression neutral as he took another sip of his coffee. "I wouldn't be too sly, Rev. If I remember right, Maxi wasn't too far behind in that department."

"At-least-I-was-already-engaged."

The coyote didn't respond at first, watching the two teens' dispute. Finally, as he opened his mouth to say something witty, Rev cut across him with a question.

"What-was-up-with-that?"

"Up with what? Alex? I think you know _that_ already…"

"Not-that. Serena-having-to-turn-down-a-guy. I-heard-there-was-one-that-caused-lots-of-um…"

"Stress? Tension? Anxiety?" Tech 's expression turned from playful to somber in just a quick moment. "Rade posted that Serena was dating a major thug in southern Acmetropolis. Been in trouble with the law more than once, no manners, has never had a grade higher than a C…" Tech shook his head. "I had to be the bad cop and lay down the law. I won't let my daughter ruin her life like that; I swear if that guy had been affected by the meteor all those years ago, we would have been battling him." His gaze shifted to the roadrunner. "Which brings us to tomorrow…"

The roadrunner grinned. "It'll-be-an-adventure-that's-for-sure. I-wonder-how-everyone-has-turned-out-I-feel-bad-for-not-keeping-in-touch-with-anyone-but-you…" he hesitated, glancing at the coyote for his reaction. Tech simply shrugged, though.

"I suppose we will just have to see what occurs tomorrow…"

**-o-**

Slam the Tasmanian entered the pizza parlor and instantly the sweet aroma of cooking sauce and cheese entered his nose. He sighed in ecstasy and sighted his best friend sitting alone at a booth with two menus placed out casually, texting on his cell phone while waiting for him.

As he shuffled over to the table, Duck looked up from his phone and grinned. "Hey, buddy," he greeted, motioning for Slam to sit down. As he did so, Duck looked back down at a new text and his face fell. "No!" he groaned in anger, slapping a hand on the table. Slam grunted in question.

Duck looked up at him. "Sadie's trying to break up with me. _No one_ dumps Danger Duck!" He began tapping on the phone's keypad before pausing. "You know what? Forget her. She obviously doesn't know class when she sees it; she's not dumping _me_, _I'm_ dumping _her_!" He then proceeded to delete the message he started and began typing another one.

Upon finishing, the mallard laughed triumphantly. "Adios, Sadie!" he exclaimed hitting the send key and slamming the phone shut. Duck then looked over at his friend. "So, Slam. What's up with my favorite Tasmanian devil?"

Slam shrugged. "Rmjkld usual." The mallard across from him casually leaned against the back of the booth, he was about to respond when a pretty cat waitress came up to them holding a notepad.

"Have you boys decided yet?" she asked sweetly, twirling the pen in her manicured fingers.

"Not quite," Duck responded smoothly. "What would _you_ recommend?"

The cat smiled slyly. "Well the Hawaiian always good."

"Ah! I forgot to tell you, I can't have just your _standard_ pie. I want exotic and different, yet tasty."

"Well then," she said tucking the pen behind her ear. "I would recommend a pepperoni pizza with green onions and sliced mushrooms."

Duck smiled. "Let's get married." The cat's eyebrows shot up but she blushed none the less.

"You don't even know me."

"Oh don't I? You drive a silver Toyota and you just went through a terrible break up."

The cat shook her head in mock disappointment. "Wrong. I drive a Jeep. A black jeep." Duck just smirked as she continued. "You were spot on about the break up, though."

"So you'll consider my generous offer?" Duck asked as she began to walk away and place their order.

"I'll think about it."

Once the waitress was out of sight, Duck cackled. "That, my friend, is how it's done."

Slam let out a grunt that Duck translated as. "Another girl considering your proposal to marriage? You know, you're going to be ninety-five and still hitting shamelessly on waitresses." Duck just scoffed though.

"Yes, and I will be _the_ smoothest ninety-five year old Acmetropolis has ever known."

"Tjdknf Ace," Slam grunted again.

Duck's face fell. "Yes I heard Ace was married. And to Lexi, of all the girls he chose Lexi." Duck laughed hollowly. "Called it." Slam smiled as Duck pressed on. "Ace is only married because he wouldn't know fun if it danced in front of him wearing a bikini." He laughed again. "I don't think Ace was ever into that, which is a shame 'cause he had plenty of opportunities."

When Slam didn't respond, the mallard continued talking. "It's going to be interesting to see them all tomorrow. I almost forgot until Tech sent me that e-mail. I would've looked like a heartless jerk had I not showed up." He laughed yet again. "You're lucky to be getting there 'fashionably late'." Save you some of the awkwardness, you never were great in those situations, you would just start pigging out."

"Ifjkeh nervous tick," Slam said defensively. Duck chuckled.

"I know buddy. Don't forget, I'm nervous too."

After their food came, both ate in relative silence. Both caught up in thoughts and anticipation of the day to come…

**-o-**

**Whew! Thanks for checking this out, guys. Sorry if the ending was a little poor, I realized I was almost to the end of the chapter and I was like, "ZOMG I'm almost done! :D:D:D:D:D" It's just the last few paragraphs but oh well.**

**Thanks y'all! Remember to REVIEW! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)**

**~Spud13**


	3. Chapter 2

**For those of you who haven't realized… I FIXED UP THESE THREE CHAPTERS AND CONDENSED THEM INTO ONE CHAPTER! So this whole thing is chapter 2. And it's hardly even four pages, explain that! :-/**

**I redid this because I couldn't stand how choppy and poorly done these chapters have been, so I just thought WHY NOT? :D and threw them together into one chapter. I've decided to do this instead of orchestrating one giant rewrite. Hopefully this will be easier to understand and such now. I didn't rewrite much here, so I may do another edit in the future.**

**-o-**

Kelsi played with the unraveling hem in her shirt as she walked to a walked to a tall building with a blue orb suspended on top with her parents. She hadn't really taken much care in her choice of clothes at all. With her faded blue, boot-cut jeans and graphic T-shirt she looked like your average school girl (minus the backpack) being walked to school by her parents.

Ace looked up at the glaring morning sun and squinted as it threatened to blind him. They say whenever something big is about to occur, you worry about every single possible thing that could go wrong; like with stage fright. The tense, jumpy faze your body goes through right before you go on stage. 'I could trip, my voice could crack, and I could forget my lines!'

This complexity is what the male hare was going through as he glared up at the flaming star in the sky. He continuously clenched and unclenched his palms, rolled his shoulders and let out short, loud breaths. 'I was their leader… will they still treat me like their boss? What if can't cope with this all over again? What if someone doesn't show? What if someone's hurt? What if I don't like everyone's families!

An overwhelmed Ace looked over at his wife. They'd been best friends on the team and he had no idea when their feelings had started to change. After the team split they… just couldn't say goodbye. Ace and Lexi's relationship had just… happened. He didn't even know how. It'd happened so slowly while they were on the team, then that first kiss shortly after the team split had just changed everything. He shook his head, smiling as he remembered. "What?" Lexi whispered turning to him.

He shook his head. "Nothing," he murmured, flashing her a smile. She grinned in return and turned back to the building they'd spent three of their young adult years.

As they walked up to the building, Kelsi looked around her, trying to memorize her surroundings, and saw a coyote, a fox and what looked like their kid (she looked about a couple years older than her) walking in the same direction. She was about to yank on Ace's shirt and ask what the deal was when Lexi cried, "Tech what are we, invisible?"

The coyote turned so fast he almost toppled over. Then his eyes fell on her mom and dad and his expression softened before turning joking. "Yeah, show yourself!" Ace and Lexi smiled and walked in step with Tech and the other two.

They took an elevator into the main room and Ace, Lexi, Tech and their families stepped out in the main room. Four road-runners were lounging on the furniture and the one who was unmistakably Rev jumped up and said, "About-time!"

The room hadn't changed much since the six Loonatics had lived in it some fifteen years before. A large circular table still occupied the center of the room and off to the right was other tables and chairs, sofas; your average living room furniture. Doors still led to where the team would train and where their rooms had been.

"Ah," said Ace throwing his jacket over a chair and smirking as he walked toward Rev. "You're here."

"Well-_duh_!" Rev said looking exasperated. "Did-you-think-I-slowed-down-or-something?" Ace chuckled and his eyes fell on the two road runner brothers.

"Please tell me they don't talk as fast as you do," he asked, his gaze becoming slightly uneasy.

Rev was quiet for a second, obviously comprehending the timbre the question was asked in. "Well… Rade-does-talk-slow-like-Rip," Rev admitted, indicating to his eldest son.

"Thank God," said a voice behind them and everyone turned to see Duck alone standing at the doorway. He smiled and walked in. "Hey."

"Hey, Duck," Lexi said before shooting a look at Ace. The grey bunny was smiling, though, his eyes scanning the many new faces. Then he sighed.

"What?" Lexi asked and Ace looked at her, an _'as if you wouldn't know'_ look in his eyes.

"I'm not too jazzed about having to do intros again." Lexi and everyone else flashed back to the first time they met each other.

**-o-**

_Flashback:_

"_Do _any _of you know each other?" The holographic form of a woman asked them. They all glanced around and choruses of "No. Nope." And Duck's "Why would we?" rang out._

_Zadavia chuckled lightly."I suppose introductions would be in order then," she said casually, motioning to the grey bunny sitting at the seat directly in front of the hologram. "Why don't we start with you, and then go clockwise around the table."_

"_It's the first day of school all over again," Lexi muttered from Ace's left._

_The grey bunny smirked nervously scratched the back of his head. "Eh, okay. This is kinda awkward. I'm Ace Bunny and I'm here 'cause that meteor messed me up."_

_Duck snorted. "You're name is Ace?"_

_Ace wasn't quite sure how to take that. "Um… yeah? As in the playing card, or the pilot…"_

"_Uh-huh! My name is only like that because I chose my own name."_

"_I-didn't-choose-my-name-and-it-can-be-looked-up-in-the-dictionary!" Rev piped up from the opposite side of the round table._

"'_Rev, to accelerate at great speed,'" Tech quoted Webster's dictionary, rolling his eyes._

_Zadavia, wondering if this was even a good idea, tried desperately to get a hold on the group._

_End Flashback_

**-o-**

"Yeah," Rev said agreeing, "That-was-the-most-annoying-thing-Duck-has-ever-done…scratch-that-one-of-the-most-annoying-things."

"Hey," Duck said defensively, "It's not _my_ fault that most of our names can be looked up in the dictionary! Ace, Tech, me, Rev, Slam—."

"Where _is _Slam?"

"He'll be here," Duck assured them, "I talked to him…" Kelsi gasped and put a hand over her mouth as something came out of nowhere and smacked Ace across the face and blood sprayed everywhere. Ace staggered backward, a hand held to his face where the unknown item had struck him.

Something was seriously wrong already.

**-o-**

A hooded figure cursed and started to reload a special gun when his arm began vibrating. He flipped back his sleeve, irritated, and cried, "What do you want," In frustration. A female's voice crackled back because of the long distance between the two.

"Get out of there!" She said in a strange urgent calmness.

"Are you crazy? I'm right here; I got 'em!"

"No you don't. They've seen enough to know there's a threat… and from what I can see you got him pretty good."

He looked around and groaned in frustration before turning green eyes back to the tower. "Fine," he muttered and was gone in a flash.

**-o-**

Ace instinctively looked up for the attacker but failed miserably and let out a pained hiss and leaned weakly against the nearest wall as his vision blurred and his face seared with incredible pain.

The four kids jumped up but stayed where they were. Fear all too clear in their eyes. The newly reunited team jumped up and ran to catch what was attacking them, all except Ace, who was still in too much pain to move and Lexi who'd jumped up to help him. "Ace…" she whispered placing a hand over the one that covered his face. He let out a moan of frustration and Lexi, trying to look professional and not as scared as she felt, gripped his hand tighter and began pulling it away from his face.

Ace had cupped his hand when he'd thrown it over his face and blood had pooled in the center of his palm so when Lexi removed his hand he flattened it and all the blood went spilling onto the floor. Lexi jumped back to avoid her clothes getting blood-spattered and she examined the cut.

Whatever had hit him had hit at the corner of his jaw and slices all the way to the small between his eyes and off of his face. "Relax…" Lexi murmured running her hand over the cut.

"'Relax?'" Ace snapped through clenched teeth. "If you were in my position you would _not_ be saying 'relax'!"

"Knock it off, Ace! I know it hurts."

"Hey," at Tech's words Ace and Lexi turned to look at him and Ace discovered that wiping blood out of your eyes with a bloody hand is extremely difficult. "We found no trace of the attacker. They must've shot then taken immediate evasive action."

"Could anyone get away that quickly?"

"If they were trained well enough they could," Ace said straightening up and shaking his head slightly, the pain slowly leaking away. "Maybe we should go see Zadavia."

"All the way in Freleng?"

"We don't really know what we're doing anymore and she might have some ideas on who's trying to bump us off."

"Sounds like a plan… everyone agree?" Nods at various excitement levels.

"Alright then," Ace said standing to his full height, realizing how much he's missed this.

**-o-**

**So how's that for a "chapter-condensing thing", huh? Not bad, if I do say so myself. ;) Honestly, I should've done this a long time ago, but my schedule just doesn't allow things like that anymore. Sorry.**

**Like I said. This editing thing is still new to me so we have trial and error. Try to roll with the punches as I try to get all the kinks worked out. 'K, guys?**

**Chapter 10 will be with us shortly after Black Friday. Thanks for all your creative ideas and support. Together we can move mountains. ;)**

**Y'all rock. Just sayin'.**

**~Spud13**


	4. Chapter 3

**And now I'm officially rewriting chapters 5 and 6.**

**This was a really big chapter in the making of this story, so it just made since that it needed to be redone.**

**Thanks guys, hope you enjoy this!**

**-o-**

"Ace… You _cannot_ be thinking of going anywhere," a female behind him stated in a voice not to be argued with.

He turned and Lexi – obviously – was standing there.

My word.

"Lex, I'm fine," he said wiping his still bleeding face on his sleeve. Of _course_ it was white. Well… now red… but that's not the point. He looked back at her but her hard glare didn't lighten. "Anyway, Lex. I didn't mean now, I meant eventually." His expression hardened as blood dripped into his eyes. "Soon though. I have no interest in being a sitting duck out here." Ace looked at Lexi, awaiting a response. She'd straightened as if she were trying hard to concentrate on something that was clearly not him. "What?" He asked, still feeling slightly irritable.

"Give me a second," she said heading outside. Everyone watched her until she was out of sight. Then, Kelsi walked over to Ace, her face overridden with fear.

"Your face…" She murmured quietly.

Ace shrugged and hoisted her up. "The bleeding will stop eventually," he said, not concerned in the slightest. Tech, however, had other plans.

"Chief, we'd better put ointment on that. Cleanse it or something of that sort." He turned away and beckoned Ace to follow him as he walked down a hallway. Ace was stunned on the inside though, by being called that title assumed that they'd forget their titles and just… bond all over again. But he guessed now that they were in danger again that they looked at him to take charge again. But how had whoever trying to hunt them down known that the team was going to be reconciling today? It was impossible unless someone was feeding them information, of course.

So, basically, impossible.

Obviously not…

When he caught up with Tech, the coyote already had gotten ready and handed Ace a damp cloth upon arrival. "Here, it's saturated with an ointment that should draw out any infection that's in the wound."

"Thanks, Tech," Ace said with a smile, taking the rag and pressing it to his face. At first it was cool and felt beautiful and then it felt as if all the fire in Hell was pressing against his face and he jerked it away with a small yelp.

"Yeah… it does burn a bit. Sorry about that, but it's the only thing that'll help." Ace nodded with a grimace, gingerly holding the cloth back up to his face.

"How'd you know this was here?" he asked the grimace slowly disappearing as the burning sensation slowly leached away.

Tech laughed. "We didn't really clean this place out much, did we? I left a load of items here just in case." He leaned against the counter and frowned. "So how about that cut, huh?" Ace laughed without humor.

"Yeah… how 'bout it."

"I'll bet someone's just trying to warn up they're coming. They probably weren't trying to kill you," he paused. "They've got remarkable aim."

"Tell me about it," the bunny too paused and glanced at the man across from him. Finally, he sighed and leaned back against the counter. "I'm sorry…"

Tech had never looked more surprised. "What on Acmetropolis do you have to feel sorry for, Chief?" Ace gave him a sad look.

"This." He indicated idly to the cloth pressed over his face. "This get-together was supposed to be perfect. If I was better I would've seen all this coming. I would've been more careful with emails and texts and phone calls." Ace paused again, looking at the floor. "This is all my fault, and I feel pretty darn rotten about it, Tech."

Tech shook his head and chuckled. "Ace I don't know what's going through that messed up mind of yours but this is not your fault. Stop beating yourself up; no one could've ever seen this coming."

Ace opened his mouth to say something else when a startled cry came from outside… Lexi. Ace raced out into the commons to see everybody up and moving toward the exit. "What happened?" he asked almost too quickly to no one in particular.

"How would we know?" Duck asked with an exasperated tone but that was so not the answer Ace wanted. He ran outside and the first thing he saw was Lexi standing to the side of the building pale faced and hyperventilating. Ace closed his eyes and his arms came around her waist, relieved she was okay and not injured. But when he opened his eyes he discovered _she _wasn't hurt but someone else was.

It was Slam.

And he was _so_ much more than hurt… he was dead. Red blood saturated his brown fur the darkest being over the right hand side of his chest, above his heart.

Behind him, Ace heard Rev keeping all the kids inside although Tech's fourteen year old daughter argued that she could handle whatever was wrong but Rev must've just shaken his head because Ace heard no response. "What happened?" he whispered so low he could barely hear himself but he knew, with those super ears of hers, Lexi could hear him loud and clear.

She shook her head. "I-I don't know. I came out here and…" she fell silent. "It must've been the same person who attacked you," she said in a whisper. Her whole body was shaking badly.

Tech came up next to the two of them, his face pale. Ace faced him and said solemnly: "Not trying to kill us, huh?"

Tech just shook his head and this time he had no sophisticated words for him. All he said was, "This is not good."

**-o-**

Over the course of the two weeks Lexi had managed to convince everyone to stay for, the tension among them gradually subsided.

Ace and Duck were, of course, eager to get going and pound whatever S.O.B. was out there so their lives would go back to normal, though they agreed that the bright side was just being together again after more than a decade of being apart. They also enjoyed getting to know the new faces.

Ace noticed that Tech's 13 year old daughter was such a smart mouthed know-it-all. She never failed to make him laugh and never missed an opportunity to show Rev's eldest, Rade**, **up. If he said _anything_ that made him sound good, Serena would automatically try to top it with an achievement true or otherwise they got into some pretty funny disputes and Ace couldn't help but find the two absolutely hilarious. Kelsi had always been the social butterfly of any group, so it didn't take her long to get to know_ every_body well. Ace could tell she was especially fond of Roi, Rev's youngest, probably due to the fact they were so close in age.

Also, Lexi had approached him and informed him in an even tone that she wasn't sure that she liked Tech's wife, Alex, at all. In her eyes, Alex talked far too much smack and, being a fox, she knew how to use it cleverly so that it got under your skin in a positive or negative way; it didn't seem to matter to her. Ace, though, just groaned the whole time she talked. He _so_ didn't need the two women bickering the entire time they were together.

Lexi, however, though Ace was hardly one to talk. Not all of the tension in the slowly mending team was gone. If anything, the tension between Ace and Duck grew so dramatically that they couldn't look at each other without glaring and they hardly ever spoke to each other at all.

"You're being so childish!" Lexi eventually got sick of this behavior and approached her husband, determined that their fighting wouldn't rip the team to pieces again.

"It's his entire fault," Ace replied quietly, knowing Lexi would have no trouble hearing him.

"It's so_ not_ entirely Duck's fault, Ace!"

"Mostly!" Ace spluttered. "I made a mistake. A freaking misjudgment and Duck automatically turned the whole team against me! Is it my fault I trust people too quickly? If it is then yes, this is all my fault." Lexi had never seen Ace act so bitter.

"He didn't turn everyone against you," Lexi whispered, touching her hand to his face and forced him to look at her. He obliged for a moment before bringing his lips softly to hers. They stood there embraced for a moment before Ace broke away and thanked her almost noiselessly.

As he began to walk away she caught his arm, saying, "Can you two be interacting _normally_ by this time tomorrow?" But she didn't even phrase it as a question. She could just have well said "Be interacting normally by tomorrow" and it would've had the same effect.

Ace opened his mouth to protest but she was already gone and no noise passed through his lips. Finally, after just remaining stationary a few seconds, he forced himself to find Duck and possibly have a civilized conversation.

**-o-**

"Hey, handsome." Tech looked over to see Alex sitting herself next to him. Silence. Noticing a lull in the conversation Alex continued. "So what's with Ace and Duckster?" For a moment her bright green eyes locked with his amber ones and he smiled before continuing to play with his hands.

Alex always acted like this. She was sassy and the picture of one of those girls on the cover of Playboy. Of course he loved her not just for these reasons (they were simply pluses) but more for the fact that she loved him for who _he_ truly was.

After the team split; Tech, devastated, had gone into a bar. Without even stopping to think: He'd never drunk a sip of alcohol in his life and besides it was totally out of character. _People. Would. Talk._ But that was where he met Alex. True, he might've drunken too much when they first met but he was just _so_ taken with her….

But this didn't really come on because Tech was super drunk. When they'd met _neither_ of them had had much at all. They were both just the people alone in the back (although many of the other males were trying to get Alex to do otherwise.) Alex had liked him _because_ he didn't go crazy over her when they met.

Tech certainly wasn't arguing though. He got the girl and his sense of belonging. His life was at a total up point… until Ace got attacked and the rabbit and Duck continued their hostility toward each other.

Realizing Alex was waiting for an answer he drew in breath and said, "On our last mission as a team we had an ally that turned on us in the end. Ace trusted him to the point that he almost assisted this guy in the destruction of the universe." Short. Sweet. No long words. A definite sign that Tech didn't want to talk about it. Alex just nodded and looked down at her hands.

"Thanks." Tech nodded and she realized she'd put him in a bad mood. I'm, uh – just gonna leave you alone now…" She started to get up to leave until she felt a strong hand grab her forearm roughly. Alex almost though he whispered 'Don't go' but she wasn't sure. Replacing herself next to him, she took his arm and laid her head softly on his shoulder.

**-o-**

Ace found Duck sitting at the table attempting to build a house of cards. Ace's first thought was 'Random' before he remembered that Duck would do this all the time when he was bored with the intention of something that Ace couldn't remember. "Can I sit here," he asked, indicating to the seat beside the mallard.

"Dunno," Duck sneered. "Are you capable?" Ace glowered.

"I need to talk to you." Duck slammed his fist on the table, making the whole tower collapse.

"Ace, there's nothing to talk about." Ace opened his mouth to speak anyway but Duck cut across him. "Ah! Hear me: I. Don't. _Care_! Okay?"

Disregarding this, Ace said, "We can't function as a team again if you and I keep fighting like this." His tone was cold, but Duck's tone was equally as harsh.

"I'll never forgive you for helping the enemy."

"Helping the enemy my furry white! Look, don't even go there. I'm just asking…"

"I'm not your friend! Don't even talk to me like I am!" Duck spat.

"I'm not asking for your friendship," Ace retorted. "I'm asking if we could just put it behind us, or just look like we've put it behind us, and just interact _normally_. We weren't friends before anyway." Duck considered.

"Agreed, I suppose."

Ace left, deciding it better to leave it at that. At least it was all sorted out. He couldn't imagine…

"Ace! Floor!" It'd been years since he'd been given that command. They'd switched out 'duck' with 'floor' because of Duck's name.

Without thinking, Ace dropped to the ground on Tech's command just as he heard a sharp _zip_ of something moving above his head and the _clunk_ as it hit the wall. He got up after it'd passed and picked it up. It was a circular disk with razor sharp blades all around the edges. It looked so familiar… he just couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen it before….

"Ace!" Lexi ran up to him but by that time Ace was glaring out the window. A lone figure dressed in black was on the roof a couple buildings over. Ace stared at the man until his eyes began drying out and he blinked.

When he opened his eyes, the attacker was gone.

**-o-**

**AHA! Another rewrite complete. For those of you wondering why I haven't redone chapter 1 yet I have a perfectly good explanation: There is a LOT more to rewriting chapter 1 than there is to these later chapters. I actually have to WRITE a huge portion of it. **

**It's not just what goes on in Ace and Lexi's household anymore. It's what goes on in everybody's household. I have stuff on Tech and Rev 15 years after the split and a bit on the relationship Tech's daughter Serena and Rev's eldest son Rade seem to share. There both really unique characters I've brought into this story, they're the main "kids" this story has. **

**Since the main plot of this story revolves mainly around Ace and Lexi, it only made since that the main kids in here would belong to Tech and Rev. That will ALSO be up shortly after Black Friday.**

**Thank you all for helping me as I TRY to get all of this worked out.**

**~Spud13**


	5. Chapter 4

**This is really quick for an update. I'm rather proud.**

**It was brought to my attention that I totally neglected to include Slam in the previous chapter so I hope this makes up for that. This chapter focuses on mainly nothing but Duck/Angst about Slam and such.**

**I'm also introducing Rev's wife in this chapter.**

**-o-**

Pain. Blood. Chills. Evil. Death.

Every night Duck tossed and turned, it'd scarred him more than the rest of the team, Slam's death. It hurt to even think about it and there seemed to be a silent agreement among them not to talk about Slam.

But every night that horrible picture of his best friend lying on the pavement with unseeing, glassy crimson eyes staring up and nothing, body surrounded by blood… Duck forced the thought out of his head and pulled a pillow across his face as he rolled over in bed.

Everything about his life was kind of sucking right then. Best friend's murder… Leader being completely hostile toward him and everyone seemed _incredibly_ self-centered.

Including him.

'_Aren't you being a bit selfish, Duck? Expecting the rest of the team to just drop everything and focus on your wishes?'_

Great. He was going to start talking to himself. Before long, Ace was going to think he'd been so traumatized by Slam's death he'd gone mad.

'You know as well as I do, as you're me, that it's best we get on this mission ASAP and pound whatever… evil…' there was so word bad enough, 'that killed Slam.'

'_But Lexi isn't that anxious.'_

'Lexi's always trying to avoid the battle, but she _should_ feel compelled to fight. I don't know why she isn't. Slam's _dead._'

'_You're still need to respect her wishes.'_

'Shut it! I hate you!'

'_I am you.'_

"Urghh!" Duck let out a small grunt of frustration as he threw back the covers and walked out to the main room.

Duck felt far more anxious to get on this new mission than the rest of the team appeared to be. Lexi showed little to no interest of getting involved whatsoever. She assumed if the enemy was desperate enough to lay an attack on Ace twice (she made no mention of Slam) then they would eventually come to Acmetropolis to get the fight they so clearly wanted.

Duck more than saw her reasoning. He just couldn't shake the feeling of wanting the person who murdered Slam to hurt so bad that they wished for death, but not kill them. That would be too nice a gesture.

He knew that evil, gory thoughts of revenge really weren't the way to go. Ace had already informed him of that. It would mess with his mind, cloud his choices. But Duck just couldn't get the thought of wanting revenge out of his head.

Once in the main room, Duck poured himself a glass of milk and plopped down on the sofa. Out of the corner of is eye he saw a newspaper. Excellent! Anything, _anything, _to get his mind off of…

The first headline he saw was: _Former Member of the Loonatics Found Dead, Killer Unknown. _Duck's eyes narrowed to a squint, anger boiling inside of him. He suppressed a scream of rage and crumpled it up into a tight ball before chucking it as hard as his skinny duck arms could across the wide room.

He watched the ball of newspaper for a moment and then watched as a quick hand snatched it from the floor. Duck blinked and then watched as a woman stepped out of the shadows unfolding the crumpled paper. Oh, Duck new her, she was Rev's wife… but man the name was escaping him. It was… it was…

"Maxi," the female said after watching his struggle. She finished unfolding the paper and read the headline Duck had obviously seen. "Upset, are we?" The look Duck sent her could've sent a wild beast cowering.

Duck peered at her kind face with a disbelieving expression. "Upset?" he asked as if to confirm what she'd said. "Duh, I'm upset!" he hissed. "My best friend was just killed! Do you think I'd really be okay? Would _you_ be okay if _your_ best friend was killed?"

She thought for a moment. "No. But I believe I would take it better than you are. I would at least _try_ to move on. All these angry thoughts of sadness and revenge aren't helping you at all." Duck blinked. How could she have known…?

"I can read minds. Many were affected by the meteor, some of us just not enough to make a difference." She smiled. Duck thought, 15 years ago he would've jumped up triumphantly and stated proudly how much better he was than her. But he didn't now. Whether Ace, or rather the rest of the team, chose to accept it, Duck had grown up a lot. Matured.

Maxi looked at him with chestnut eyes. "Whether you believe it or not now," she whispered. "Things will end fine."

"How do you know?"

"I believe victory is given to not the man with the most talent, but rather to the man who tries the hardest. Who is driven and has a reason to win. You all have these. Therefore, I believe victory will be yours for the taking when the time comes."

"What is it with you and believing things?"

Maxi smiled before getting up and bidding Duck goodnight and leaving him to drink his untouched glass of milk and think about what she'd said.

The weird thing to Duck was that everything she'd said was absolutely right. Angry thoughts weren't going to help anything and if he wanted the team on his side he needed to show them a lot more respect. Groaning, he drained his milk and heading off to bed knowing that tomorrow he'd have to make things right with the team. Especially Ace.

'Ho, boy' was his last thought before he climbed into bed, hit the pillow and lost consciousness.

**-o-**

**How was it? I thought it was quite deep and very angsty for what I usually write. It's kinda short too…**

**Review, please? ****Revisión****, por favor?**

**~Spud13**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hmm… well a month isn't TOO bad I suppose, compared to some. Then I look at fics that are updated once a week and I'm like "D: I can't get updates up that fast!" I guess I procrastinate waaaay too much.**

**Anyway, going back, I notice how insanely stupid some of these past author's notes have been, writing about useless junk when I really SHOULD be thanking all of my wonderful reviewers like: Lana 8D, TedP, Luna264, PurpleGirly, thanks guys! I really appreciate all of your support and feedback.**

**On a side note: Oh my word are we to chapter (what is this?) 8 already? Sheez… I'm not a third of the way through this, haven't started DIDLEY yet. On my rewrite plan this is all condensed into 4 chapters. Ah, well. I'll finish this and have like, 30 chapters and then condense it to be about 15. Cool?**

**Thanks to all those who responded to the prologue. I reeeaaaly appreciated all your guy's great feedback and I hope to get going on that soon.**

**Also, a couple of people noted that yes, this story was rated T for a reason, so if you're younger than say, 12 or so and you can't handle that junk PM me and I'll fix it up for y'all. :)**

**How about some ages as well?**

**Ace: 37**

**Lexi: 35**

**Tech: 40**

**Alex: 36**

**Rev: 34**

**Maxi: 34**

**Slam: 41**

**Duck: 35**

**Kelsi: 7**

**Serena: 14**

**Rade: 8**

**Roi: 13 alllmost 14**

**Now, enough of my pathetic rambling and onto the story!**

**-o-**

Duck honestly _did_ try to speak with Ace the following day. The problem? Ace didn't really listen or appear to care much when the mallard approached him.

"Ace! I-"

"Hey guys," Ace called out to the room of adults, the kids had run off after declaring that they were immensely boring like most days. "I've got a plan."

Groaning inwardly, Duck sunk down into the nearest chair. Before the team split up, if Ace said 'I have a plan' it was code for 'unless you've got a better idea this is what we're doing so shut up and listen' and the mallard highly doubted that _that_ had (or ever would) changed "Please tell me it involves gettin' groovy in a club somewhere," Duck said with a smirk. Ace whirled around a plastered the you-are-an-idiot look on his face he reserved just for Duck.

"No," Ace said easily while turning back around and smirking. "That's next week's plan." He paused. "But a fair amount of us _are_ going to be traveling."

"Huh," Duck remarked from his chair. Ace raised his eyebrows and found himself turning once again to face the smirking duck.

"What now, Doc?"

Without changing his expression, Duck responded, "Where to? Please tell me it involves 5-star tourist resorts with abnormally hot people running around on wide, sandy beaches and not the kind of traveling that involves a potential loss of life, running away from dudes who look like the walked out of Stephen King novels and dumpster diving more than the average hobo."

The you-are-an-idiot look was still plastered to Ace's face. Finally, he turned his back to the mallard and said. "Hmmm, in answer to your entertaining inquiry, yes, it is, in fact, one of those traveling plans that involves 5-star tourist resorts with abnormally hot people running around on wide, sandy beaches and not the kind of traveling that involves a potential loss of life, running away from dudes who look like the walked out of Stephen King novels and dumpster diving more than the average hobo." After finishing, Ace smiled; impressed he'd remembered it all.

Looking doubtful, Duck frowned. "Seriously?"

Ace nodded his grin widening. "Seriously."

It was Duck's turn to grin; he _was_ beginning to like this plan after all. "Well don't keep me in suspense, where to?" He kicked back in his chair and crossed his feet on the table.

A chuckle. "Take a wild guess," the bunny replied.

Alex grinned from the seat next to Tech. "Bahamas."

Flashing her a smile, Ace shook his head. "Nope."

"Venice Beach!" Someone offered. Ace continued to shake his head, still smiling. Lexi was next in the line of people to smile. She's been the one to give Ace this idea and she could tell both of them were thoroughly enjoying the rest of the team's intense guessing.

Duck finally shrugged. "Apocalypso."

"Negetive. It blew up, remember?" Duck frowned, the memory coming back. Ace continued. "Think, _not_ in this galaxy."

"Uh… Tatooine?"

"No – wait… what?"

"Supposed to be in a galaxy far, far away, right?"

Ace closed his eyes and rubbed his face. "Actually, I was thinking Freleng; but you weren't even one of the people I planned on coming so it shouldn't really matter to you anyway."

"Freleng has 5-star tourist resorts and abnormally hot people running around on wide, sandy beaches?"

"Yes Alex," Lexi said rolling her eyes. "Did you learn _anything_ in social studies?"

"As a matter of _fact_," Alex began standing up and folding her arms across her chest. "I actually learned the stuff that _matters_."

Lexi narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to retort when Tech cut across. "Who's going?"

"That would be you, Alex, me, and Lex. The rest are gonna stay here and see what information they can rustle up about that freaky weapon or any mysterious people and/or deaths, sound good?"

"Of course me, Rev, Maxi, and the little guys have to stay here while you get to go and have all the fun."

"It's gonna be more dangerous, Duck."

"That's right, fun. Put me in!"

Ace shook his head. "Sorry, doc. We were gonna take one of the older ships and those only seat four anyway. Either way, begging is a lost cause."

**-o-**

Serena rolled her eyes as the argument broke out below her, continuing to peer though the grate in the air ducts at the adults. She could pick up every word said thanks to the fox hyper-sensitive hearing gene her mom had passed down to her; and personally, she was just glad that they were finally going to do something about this homicidal maniac that appeared to be after Kelsi's dad.

She finally heard Ace announce that they were going to be leaving early tomorrow morning and with that, everyone left as though Ace had just dismissed a class. Turning herself around, Serena crawled back through the ducts. If her dad caught her up here, he'd go crazy. Serena used to crawl through the ducts in their old house and listen in on private conversations. Six weeks later her dad announced they were moving.

She reached the room and popped the grate loose and saw Roi bellow her looking agitated. "Would you hurry up, Serena, I hear someone coming!"

"Hold you're freaking horses, birdbrain, I'm comin' down." As she began to lower herself through the grate she heard the roadrunner mutter something indistinct. She grinned, hanging halfway out of the grate, and caught his head in between her legs. "What was that?"

"This could be deemed as inappropriate," he muttered, trying to squirm out of the way. Before he could succeed, however, they heard a voice behind them.

"What the…" Serena jerked her head around to see Ace standing in the doorway with his hand on the knob and a dumbfounded expression that only made the giant red mark on his face from where he was cut stand out even more.

In one swift motion, the girl fox brought her leg back and connected her foot with the center of Roi's shoulder blades causing him to fall over in surprise before she released the grate and landed neatly with one foot on either side of him. Grinning, she walked over the groaning roadrunner and over to Ace, whose expression did not change.

Serena could tell that words were failing the bunny so she simply said, "He's used to it." Ace's eyebrows shot up and he glanced at Roi who was stumbling to his feet.

"As sad as it is, it's true," he groaned, rolling his shoulders. Ace shook his head.

"Where's Kels and Rade?"

Serena shrugged. "They abandoned us."

"Excuse me. You all abandoned _me_ you were only just getting back – " She elbowed him in the ribs to keep him from saying more. If word got to Ace that she was climbing in the ducts, word would get to her dad as well; though Ace would have to be stupid not to put two and two together.

"Either way, we need to talk to you kids when they get back. Got it?"

Serena saluted. "Aye, aye, cap'n!"

Ace smiled and left. Once he was out of earshot Serena laughed out loud, taking note that Ace made a point to leave the door open. "I think we scare him."

Roi looked at her with raised eyebrows, still rolling his eyebrows. "You scare _me_." Chuckling, the girl shook her head and in another swift movement, placed a kiss on Roi's beak and flew out the door toward the commons; and after a moment of standing there with a dumb, glazed over expression on his face, he followed her.

**-o-**

**Yes! We're back to short and sweet chapters. That prologue was over 11 pages long and this is what, four and a half? **

**Either way, I think this qualifies as my plan/draft to keep you all occupied while I write the other, which is coming along slowly.**

**Thanks all you guys and don't forget to review! ;) They help with speedy updates and such!**

**:)**

**~Spud13**


	7. Chapter 6

**OMGOSH! Is Spudwick13 updating a story? The world is ending! Gaaahhh!**

**Seriously though, it's been too long. Waaay too long. Allow me to begin with my pitiful excuses: Ahem, this has possibly been the WORST year EVER for me to start a story. Why, you ask? Well, there was the whole "oops I fell and hurt my knee"thing and then I friggin' lost my computer and wasn't even able to remotely type it so… yeah…**

**But I'm here now, and if you're still reading this and haven't given up on me, I thank you. I probably shouldn't add that I've had chapter 10 written since July…**

**Also, on a side note, Ted, you made me laugh. Or chuckle, giggle, snort; take your pick. ;) It is awkward to say, as a writer, that I'm no good with words. I meant notes like that. I usually end up sounding like a rambling idiot, which I'm sure I did.**

**-o-**

Ace splashed water on his face as he stared down his reflection in the mirror. It was four-thirty in the morning but the bunny had decided it better to get up early before Lexi, Tech, and Alex got up to leave at six on the dot. Getting up early meant time to yourself; just like it did when the team was still a unit.

The man that stared back at him sighed and brought a hand to the bright red scar that streaked across his face. He cussed under his breath at the memory and lowered his gaze to the floor, reaching for the collapsed Guardian Strike Sword on the counter next to him. Ace squeezed the handle twice and the blade immediately erupted from the hilt and rose so that it covered a fair amount of the bunny's face. A smile tugged at his lips.

He's thought these days were long gone. From the moment he walked out those front doors fifteen years ago, almost to the day, he thought he's given this life up forever.

The smile widened as he mentally compared the figure in the mirror now with the one from fifteen years ago. He's been just a week from turning twenty-four, so he hadn't completely lost the scrawny, teenage look he'd had, but a lot had changed since then. Age still had a long time to catch up to his body, so really, the only noticeable difference, aside from how mature he looked now, was that he wasn't nearly as able-bodied as he used to be. There was no way he'd be able to execute the same back flips and attacks he'd managed in his hay-day.

Anyone could've noticed how much more mature he was now. He definitely looked fifteen years older, but still young and fit. Ace had done everything in his power to maintain the same figure he's shaped while a member of the Loonatics. The rest didn't look too bad either. It was obvious, though, that Duck had either gained a few pounds or become more buff than he'd been before.

Ace lowered his arm, sword still in hand, and closed his eyes; enjoying the pure bliss of the quiet darkness. He stood like this for a long while, with water still dripping down his face; not noticing the time whatsoever and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt slender arms wrap around his waist, and soft hands on his bare chest.

Lexi pressed her cheek between his shoulder blades and Ace could feel her smile. "Scare you?"

Ace scoffed, smiling. "As if." She chuckled and let her hands graze over his torso, causing the male's breath to catch in his throat. Even after years of being together, this girl still gave him chills.

"Nervous?" she purred, feeling Ace shrug in response. He squeezed the sword's handle again and the blade retracted into the hilt.

"Just another mission, ain't it?" He felt her arms tighten around him.

"You and I both know that's not true, Ace," she murmured, he couldn't tell if she was fully awake yet. "Our whole future depends on this mission." After this, silence swallowed the room as Ace turned to face her, returning the embrace. The bunny opened his mouth to respond but instead found his face in Lexi's hands and her mouth on top of his open one, kissing his deeply.

Ace smiled and brought his girl closer to him, enjoying this simple pleasure. When they finally broke apart, Lexi linked her arms around Ace's neck and stared into his eyes. "Never think I don't love you," she whispered.

"Give me one reason why I should think that."

Grinning, Lexi leaned up and planed another passionate kiss on Ace's lips.

**-o-**

"You're awfully quiet," Tech observed, sitting down next to Rev in the hanger. The roadrunner looked up and smiled weakly at his friend. "C'mon, Rev," Tech egged on, I've never seen you go this long without talking." Despite the early hour, Tech offered Rev a soda. (Without caffine, Rev was dangerous when presented with caffine.)

"It's-just…" Rev paused. "Once-again-I-don't-get-to-see-the-action. I-was-the-one-_always_-left-behind-and-obviously-_that_-hasn't-changed… Even-when-I-did-go-I-didn't-do-much… it-bites."

Tech gazed at his friend sadly. "I'm sure that will change," he murmured quietly. Rev turned to look at him, face serious, a strange look on the happy, energetic roadrunner.

"When? If-it-hasn't-happened-yet-when-_will_-that-change-Tech." The coyote had no answer for him, thankfully, in that instance; Alex plopped down in between Tech and Rev, saving her husband who was scrambling for words.

"Hey, good lookin'," Alex said casually. Tech responded off-handedly, still mulling over what Rev had said. A sly grin spread over the female's face. "Who said I was talking to you?" she asked coyly, whipping her head around dramatically to face Rev. "Hey, Roadster; how's it hangin'."

Rev grinned. "How-are-you-Alex?" Alex stretched and brought her hands around her knees.

"Not bad… I want it to be warm and sunny."

"You'll be getting that once we arrive in Freleng."

Alex smiled broadly. "You bet I will."

"Speaking of which," Tech said, standing up, "I'd better get this ship ready. No doubt it will need to be looked at, not having used it in over a decade."

The lady fox hopped up next to him. "And I will go with you." Alex looked over her shoulder at Rev. "What about you, Speedy. You up for this?"

Rev shrugged. "Nah-I-better-check-on-Maxi-and-the-little-squirts."

An eye roll. "You can't exactly say that anymore, since Roi is almost as tall as you, and he's only thirteen." Rev ignored the genius coyote and started walking away.

"Have fun," Alex added sarcastically with a little wave.

It was rev's turn to roll his eyes. "You-know-it." A pause. "Good-luck-you-have-your-radios-right-'cause-those-are-our-link-and-we'll-be-sure-to-keep-you-updated-on-"

"Thanks," Alex cut across him and turned to enter the space craft.

"It's been a _long_time," Tech announced, walking into the ship and taking a deep breath. It felt so good to be back, words couldn't even describe it.

Alex's chin was suddenly on his shoulder, her lips in his ear. "You've missed this," she murmured. Tech nodded with a smile.

"You're right, I have." The coyote turned to face her but in that same moment Alex was on his other side, linking their arms.

"How about a tour, handsome? You _did_ make this one I _presume_…" she drew out the last word with sarcastic critique, looking coyly around the ship.

Tech scoffed. "Don't insult me. Of course this is mine." With that, the coyote proceeded to show his wife the layout of their ship.

Though the statement about it only seating four was correct, this ship was big enough for a group of four to _live_ comfortably. Tech showed Alex the control room first, followed by the kitchen and the few bedrooms. Finally, the tour ended with the engine room.

"We should never have to go in here unless there's a problem," Tech shrugged and wandered around, saying offhandedly how to work each piece of machinery.

Alex had to giggle at his vocabulary, which was so extensive; she wouldn't have a clue where to even begin if something _were _to go wrong. But he was just so confident with all of this, that sure look on his face and his offense if you didn't take it all seriously… he was just so cute…

"We about ready to roll?"

Ace's voice jerked Alex out of her trance. She made her way to the ship's entrance where Ace was standing, jacket slung over his shoulder and Lexi not far behind him. Unlike they would've all those years ago, the team wasn't dressed in their black jumpsuits; Ace was just wearing old, faded jeans and a t-shirt and it appeared Lexi hadn't even changed out of the clothing she'd slept in.

"Absolutely," Tech's voice came behind the fox, making her jump. The coyote tossed the keys for the ship over to Ace who caught them neatly in his palm, chuckling.

"Serious déjà vu," the male bunny laughed, making his way to the pilot seat, Tech close behind. Lexi went to close the door to the ship when she caught sight of Duck, Rev and Maxi leaning against the far wall of the hanger. With a smile, she gave them a salute and proceeded to close the door.

Seating himself in the pilot's seat, Ace grabbed the key with his thumb and forefinger, drawing a blank as he desperately tried to remember where to place it. Tech grinned as he came up behind him. "Left," he hinted.

Ace scoffed as an embarrassed blush crept across his face. "I knew that, I was testing you." He smirked in the coyote's direction.

"That's what they all say."

Laughing, Ace inserted the key into the ignition and turned it. The engine roared to life and the noise reduced to a soft purr. The bunny nodded; satisfied, and turned in his chair to make sure everyone was seated for takeoff. He met Lexi's eyes and she gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up. Grinning, Ace put the ship into gear and felt the ground vanish beneath the ship as it ascended into the air….

**-o-**

"Hiya."

Lexi looked up from her book. Alex. "Hmm," she mumbled, putting on her annoyed expression. Alex turned her gaze down, trying to catch a glimpse of the book's cover.

"What're you reading?"

"A book and I'd like to get back to it _if_ you don't mind…" Lexi stuffed her nose back in her novel just in time for Alex to snatch it from her hands and fling it behind her. "Hey-"

"Listen up," Alex snapped; she'd come over here to try to reason with Lexi and hopefully end whatever stupid feud they appeared to be in the middle of, but all the perky bunny wanted to do was spit fire. Well two could play at that game. "I, being the _mature_ one, decided to come over and have a civilized conversation but all _you_-"

"This is exactly why I said you shouldn't come, but Ace insisted so…"

"So you caved because you'd do anything for him," Alex finished with a sly smile.

Lexi gave her a sneer that didn't quite reach her eyes. "So what if I'm crazy about him? I should be; we've been married a while now."

Alex studied her face carefully. "I haven't gotten that far." A smile. "You're a tough girl to crack, Lex." It was strange: Ace's nickname for her being used by someone else, but all the same, Lexi smirked.

"I ought to be, I lived with a bunch of guys."

"Your husband is an open book," Alex murmured offhandedly, disregarding Lexi's comment. "I can almost always tell what he's thinking." She looked thoughtfully out the window.

"Then he seems surprised when you respond." Lexi chuckled. "He's cute," she added, studying Alex's face. She'd never admit it, but the moment she saw Alex she was jealous: Beautiful green eyes, clever, sharp tongue, confident, and _amazingly_ sexy. Alex had a tone body with naturally curves most girls would kill for. Even now, in a tank-top and sweatpants, Alex was more likely to attract men's eyes than Lexi had on her prom night.

Sighing, the female bunny stretched and checked her watch. "Time?" Alex questioned, not moving her eyes from the window. Lexi's eyes flashed up.

"Eight-twenty," she said slowly. Alex turned to her with a playful smirk.

"You might want to think about getting changed." Lexi looked herself over. She was still dressed in the old T-shirt she'd thrown on when she got up and Ace's basketball shorts which she'd slept in.

"It's a nice idea," she noted and got up to leave.

"Hey, Lexi." The bunny stopped but didn't turn around, nonetheless, Alex pressed on. "So, we're good?"

Lexi slowly turned to meet the fox's eyes. "Sure, Alex," she said before leaving without another word, leaving Alex more confused than she had before.

**-o-**

Hours later, Ace called the others up to the bridge. As Tech approached last, a grease stain smeared across his right cheek, Lexi smirked. "And what is Tech working on?"

The coyote shrugged. "Nothing crucial. We haven't used this space-craft in so long, some of the devices are dated. I'm just updating them. The steering mechanism is retro and the flux capacitor needs new cables and-" Alex casually put a finger to his lips.

"I need to buy you a book on slang," she murmured. "That way you could speak in a language we'd all understand." Tech sighed.

"Some parts are old. I need to make them like-new again so the ship doesn't go down in flames."

"Much better," Ace said with a smirk as Alex used her thumb to remove the grease from Tech's face. "Anyway," the bunny continued. "We're about to land in Freleng, so I encourage everyone to just act natural, and let Zadavia know what's goin' on. Sound like a plan, guys?"

"Sure thing, baby," Lexi said, giving a thumbs up.

"Absolutely."

"Sounds peachy to me."

"Great," Ace said, turning back to the controls and putting the landing gear in action. "I actually had to let the hanger guys know we were coming," the bunny said with a chuckle. "No more special privileges I guess." They entered the planet's atmosphere and saw the planet's ship housing where many men in matching suits motioned to them, showing Ace where to land.

After touching down in the appropriate spot, the partial-team stepped opened the door and walked down the platform to get their first look at Freleng. The sun was shining but the humidity was incredible. "Wow," Alex said as she stepped out. "I guess I'm glad I wore a tank-top after all."

A beefy man in a suit identical to all the rest came up to them and consulted a clipboard. "You're Ace, right?"

"That would be me," Ace said, grinning. "Unless you see a playing card around here, 'cause Ace isn't really a common name."

"Alright then," the man said, clearly not up for jokes. "I need you to sign here… here… here… and… no, wait… nope, that's about it." He ran a meaty hand through his brown, greasy hair. "Tell me when you're done."

"Thanks," Ace said with slowly, the smile fading, and braced the clipboard against his knee and scrawled his name in the designated spaces.

"What a grouch," Lexi muttered, crossing her arms as he walked away. Ace shrugged.

"Don't be too harsh, Lex," he said without looking up. "Just think 'bout how many humorless, arrogant losers he gets through here. I think the fun gets stamped out of 'em." Ace finished his last signature and placed the pen back into his pocket. "C'mon."

The group walked casually through the giant hanger that looked suspiciously like Space Mountain and slapped the papers on the front desk as they arrived. The large man who had talked to them earlier took the paperwork and looked them over, frowning at Ace's messy penmanship. Finally, he nodded and smiled stiffly. "Thank you. I have informed the queen of your arrival, have a pleasant day."

Thanks, Mike," Tech replied, reading the worker's nametag as the band of anthros began to walk away.

"That's nice," Alex stated as they arrived outside the hanger. "Now all we have to do is walk on through the front door." As they hit the streets, their glee was short-lived. The crowds thickened dramatically; packed with tourists, locals, and politics.

Tech groaned. "At least the castle is only a couple blocks away…" he muttered, gazing uneasily at the sea of people.

Ace was about to respond when a male raccoon pushed him roughly, causing the rabbit to stagger backward. The young man turned to face Ace, annoyance clear on his face. "Watch it, dude! Don't just _stand_ on a _walk_way!" He rolled his eyes and ran to catch up with his friends.

Standing off to the side this time, Ace faced his small team. "That jerk had a point. We should get moving."

**-o-**

After ten grueling minutes of fighting crowds and the heat, the group arrived at Freleng's castle gates to find a girl in her mid-20's with shoulder length, white-blonde hair standing just on the other side. Her bright, electric green eyes seemed to be peering directly into each of their minds. In fact, she looked just like Lexi would if she were human.

"Um… Hi?" Ace began awkwardly to the strange girl. She smiled knowingly at him in response.

Creepy.

"We're here to see Zadavia," Lexi said firmly as the young woman turned to face her.

"Of course," she replied smoothly, opening the creaking gate. "She's expecting you." The gate opened wide enough for them all to fit through. "Follow me." The girl turned and started up the cobblestone walkway to the castle, the others not far behind.

Zadavia never gushed, but the closest she'd ever come to it was when telling the team so many years ago about how magnificent the royal palace in Freleng was. Tech had always thought she'd been playing it up for a good story but now, just walking through the garden on the way to the doors, he could tell she hadn't been.

The architecture was so beautiful and unique; all of them couldn't stop staring. At last, the blonde girl stopped before the front doors. "Do I even need to tell you not to touch anything?"

"Eh, I think we got that…" Ace smiled hesitantly.

Her eyes narrowed. "What?"

"I'm a guy who likes to call people by their names." She turned around.

"And I'm a girl who _doesn't_ like to give her information out to strangers," the girl retorted. "Sorry buddy." Without another word, she opened the door and let them inside.

As she began to walk inside, Ace turned to face the team with an exaggerated surprised/bemused expression. "Wow," he mouthed before following the girl deeper into the castle.

After zig-zagging their way through several different hallways, Blondie finally came to a halt in front of a pair of 20 foot tall doors. Alex let out a low whistle. "Sweet," she piped up from the back.

Wearing an incredibly fake smile, the girl held open one of the giant doors. "After you."

The small collection of anthros walked inside and stood dumbly in the middle of the wide room, Blondie leaning against the closed door. The whole room seemed to be made out of pure, white marble which was shined so amazingly, everyone could see their reflections anywhere they looked. "If I may repeat myself," Alex said, breaking the awestruck silence. "Sweet."

Tech smiled and opened his mouth to respond when the doors opposite from the ones they had entered through flung open and Zadavia entered alone, wearing a beautiful, flowing silk dress of fine lavender. All things considered, the Frelengian queen had not aged much; just the slightest hint of wrinkles starting to show along the edges of her eyes. Nonetheless, she smiled warmly at them.

"It's been quite some time." She stopped, taking notice of the new face. "I don't believe we've met before," she said to Alex.

"And I believe you're very good at stating the obvious," Alex replied with a smirk. Zadavia's smiled broadened.

A wave of relief washed over Ace as he wasted no time delving into their tale. Zadavia listened, nodding frequently. Her face seemed to turn white when the news about the deceased Tasmanian devil crossed her ears. When Ace had finished, Zadavia seemed beyond flustered and put a hand to her heart.

"I – I truly am speechless." The queen frowned and spoke directly to the foursome. "Please feel free to make yourselves at home, you have to allow some time to let this news sink in. We'll devise a plan of action tomorrow." Ace nodded, speaking for all of them.

"Thank you, we'll catch up with ya tomorrow." They turned and left the exquisite room and stood outside the castle in the garden.

"So what do we do now, chief?" Tech asked casually, absent-mindedly letting his hands run across Alex's palms.

Ace gave his a wicked grin. "Well we _are_ in Freleng and we've got the whole day to ourselves…"

"Ew, no thanks." Lexi's face contorted with disgust. "Nothing sounds worse than being surrounded by a bunch of Barbie dolls flaunting their bodies for the men. Count me out." She gestured back to the castle. "I'm going to see if Zadavia can hook me up with a room."

Tech shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Ace turned to the two remaining. "You two game?"

Alex beamed. "Absolutely. As long as we're here, we may as well have some fun!"

**-o-**

**Sorry this took so long again guys. :( But the good news is: … Wait for it… NO MORE LONG UPDATES! Why you ask? I finally have a computer in my room and I'm seriously working my butt off trying to get this story done plus a one-shot I'm working on for Ace and Lexi.**

**On a side note: What do you guys think these four should get to do in an entire planet like south California? Could be fun, right? Should Lexi decide to join them after all? Send me those ideas and advice in one of those REVIEWS! All you've gotta do is click on that little blue button at the bottom there. Magic things will behold if you do! ;) **

**~Spud13**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys!**

**Before I say anything, for those of you going 'ZOMG SPUD! What happened to your story! Half of the chapters are gone!' Well look again, my friends! This is what I like to call a revision. I condensed chapters 2, 3, and 4 into a single chapter 2 and 5 and 6 into chapter 3. I haven't touched chapter 1 quite yet 'cause I got BIG plans for that! :P**

**Whew! So after that incredibly long update the only reviewer I appear to have lost is Luna246. I don't know if she just hasn't been active lately or what but I just had to thank all of you for not giving up on me after all this time. Hopefully now I'll have more regular updates.**

**Speaking of which, I've started that Acexi story I told y'all about last chapter. I'm really into it and I'm working but tail off to get that on here so you guys can see whatcha think!**

**Before I begin, I just have to thank all the people who have reviewed this story on my good days and bad days. I love you guys so much, y'all make my day. I feel like I don't say that enough, so just putting it out there for you guys to see.**

**This chapter is a special treat for all you Ace and Lexi fans out there. I haven't written much for these two yet and they're not my favorite pairing, I ship them just as much as I do Tech and Zadavia (yes that is an existing coupling and yes I do ship them to an extent) so bear with me as I work out my Acexi scenes. :D Thanks!**

**I'll actually let you read this now. ;)**

**-o-**

Lexi stood at the entrance to the castle and sighed. What she wanted more than anything right then was time to herself, but her heart clenched at the thought of things that could happen with her absent: Sly winks, cleavage, effortless flirting; all directed toward her husband. Even though Ace was into his mid-30's already, that hadn't stopped the bunny from attracting women's eyes.

Sighing, the female hare glanced over her shoulder back at the garden. She _should_ get some rest. She _should_ let the others have fun without her negative look on the planet bringing them down; she _should _go inside and stop worrying…

Which was exactly why, five minutes later, she was clinging to Ace's arm and walking casually along the boardwalk with him, Tech and Alex.

"I have to admit, Lex," Alex said, gazing thoughtfully at her, arm linked with Tech's. "I'm surprised you decided to come, you seemed really set against this place." Lexi looked down and didn't say anything. "Though I hate to add," Alex continued, noting the people passing them by. "I wouldn't be surprised if half of this population were made of plastic." She grimaced as an older woman who had obviously had a few face-lifts in her lifetime passed the group.

"See, what did I tell you?" Lexi replied smoothly as they turned into a small shop filled with trivial items. Lexi picked up an average, white shell necklace and absent mindedly held it up to her neck to test the length.

"That would look nice on you!" A pretty Asian girl working at the shop said politely. Lexi looked up and smiled sweetly at her.

"Maybe, but it's not something I would usually wear." She put the necklace neatly back on the table and noticed the girl studying her face with wide brown eyes. "…Um, did you need something?"

"Were you a member of the Loonatics?" The girl blurted out suddenly. Lexi looked up with a start. It had been a long time since anyone had ever asked her that.

"In the flesh."

"That's really cool, I moved from Acmetropolis seven years ago," she added, brushing her dark bangs nervously from her eyes. "As a kid, I used to sit in my living room and read the reports on all of your victories." She was turning a tad pink.

"Aww," Lexi said, truly flattered. This girl couldn't have been older than 25, she was surprised the fidgety female even remembered who they were.

"What's goin' on?" Ace suddenly appeared at Lexi's side, wrapping his arm around her waist. The girl opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something else, but thought better of it and smiled warmly at Lexi before turning to walk away.

"That girl remembered who we were and even recognized me," Lexi said thoughtfully, gazing at her as she made her way around the store.

Ace smiled. "No kiddin'?" Lexi looked up at him and saw his bright blue eyes shining and his smile stretching across his face and Lexi couldn't help smile as well. It was moments like this she remembered why the two of them had stuck together all these years…

"Ace!" The two bunnies looked over to see Tech and Alex standing at the entrance to the shop, clearly ready to get out of there. Ace gave the coyote thumbs-up and led Lexi outside into the blazing sun.

"_That_ was exciting," Alex muttered, sarcasm dripping from her tone. "I hope that's not the extent of what we're planning to do here."

Ace laughed. "Don't worry, what do you say we head down there," he jerked his thumb toward the yellow sand and crashing waves to his right. Alex raised an approving eyebrow.

"Boy, you know how to speak my language!" She shot a glance at her husband who simply laughed and shook his head, laughing.

"Don't look at me; I'm just along for the ride."

**-o-**

Some five minutes later, Alex was throwing her arms out wide and spinning, her bare feet kicking sand around her and soiling her yoga pants. She laughed and stopped, facing Tech with green eyes alive with joy.

Lexi was sure her male companions didn't realize, Alex probably didn't even realize anymore but the second Alex made her presence know, every pair of male eyes in the area look at her and began tracing her body with hungry gazes and, no doubt, undressing her with their eyes. Lexi snorted at the pure ridiculousness and immaturity of it all.

As Tech and Alex wandered further up the beach front, Lexi lay down in the sand; closing her eyes and feeling the sun warm her front. She sat so that the waves barely licked her feet as they came crashing into the shore. Feeling Ace sit down about a foot from her still figure, she smiled.

"Jealous much?"

Her smile vanished instantly. She sat up instantly and began spluttering. "Wha- what's your problem? Why would I be jealous of that _slut_?"

"Whoa, chill out, Lex." Ace put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. "No need to be in denial 'bout it." Lexi frowned as Ace bent down to kiss her, then his voice lowered to a whisper. "And just for the record, I think you're more beautiful than Alex… Inside and out."

Ace couldn't tell if his reaction was a sigh or a scoff. "If only that were true…" Lexi murmured.

"It is," Ace smiled. "And God knows I'm never wrong." He looked over to see if he could keep tabs on Tech and Alex when he felt something cool and wet on his face!

He leapt up and looked frantically for is assailant but instead found Lexi standing ankle deep in the clear, blue ocean cracking up. "Try being a little more modest, chief!"

"Oh, you think that's funny, do ya?" Ace said, evil smile creeping across his face. "We'll see how funny you find that in a minute!"

Ace charged her, wrapping his arms around her waist in a tackle-like position and then scooped her up in his arms, Lexi laughing like a giggly schoolgirl all the while

As Ace, laughing himself, sat his girl back on her feet but never removed his arms from her waist; his blue eyes were alive and sparkling in the hot sun. Lexi smiled up at him and draped her arms around his neck and brought her lips slowly to his. "Thanks," she whispered fondly.

Smiling, Ace leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Thank _you_."

**-o-**

"Let's go Tech. You and me. Now." The four were sitting outside a café at a circular table with a cute striped umbrella protecting them from the sun. Ace had his elbow resting on the table just left of theirs with his arm out invitingly, ever present smirk on his face. Lexi laughed and Tech's eyebrows shot up.

"Seriously, Ace?"

"Yup. Now get over here or I win by default." Tech cautiously got up from the plastic chair and sat down across from his grinning friend.

"You know my skills this are appallingly poor," the coyote muttered, hesitantly placing his own elbow on the table and grabbing Ace's hand firmly.

"Ah, don't be so quick to discredit yourself, buddy. Some of those toys of yours are _pretty_ big and I've seen you carry those babies all the way across HQ." Lexi and Alex noticed with interest, the situation and were upon the men in an instant.

"What do we have here?" Alex asked, sipping a Jamba Juice with a smile. **(A/N: I love me some Jamba Juice. I just had to put it someplace here in this story! :) ) **

"Ace that was a long time ago," Tech sighed, disregarding Alex's remark. Alex seized the opportunity to fire another blow.

"Oh, quit it. You don't want to give Ace bragging rights, do you?" Across from him, Ace raised his eyebrows as if to say, _Don't think I won't take advantage of these bragging rights._

"Fine," Tech sighed as he readied his grip on Ace's hand. Lexi started the countdown.

"3… 2… 1... Go!"

Tech's hand was down in an instant.

"See, there we go," the coyote said, instantly rising from the chair. "I'm going to go get me a coffee, an activity that does not require upper body strength…"

"You didn't even try!" Ace objected, rising to his feet but Alex was on Tech in an instant, setting her smoothie down and dragging him to the table.

"You're not finished _yet_, bozo." Alex took the seat further away from Tech and held her arm out excitedly. Tech shook his head and Alex pouted. "C'mon, baby. You'll probably beat me anyway." She smiled warmly and her husband caved.

"I just don't want you getting hurt," he admitted, staring into her brilliant green eyes. Alex cocked her head sweetly, heart melting.

"Aw," Lexi cooed, sipping her frozen lemonade.

Alex grinned deviously at the coyote. "Don't worry 'bout me, I'm a big girl." She gestured to her hand. "So are we gonna do this?"

Tech grasped her hand and Lexi, smiling, began the countdown once again. "3… 2… 1… Go!"

Right as the female hare ended the last word, Tech's hand was on the table yet again. "Ouch," Ace snickered after letting out a low whistle.

"Alex! You started too early!" Tech exclaimed, dumbfounded.

The fox shrugged. "It's not _my_ fault you have slow reflexes. That's a strategy I learned from Rev."

"Wow, Tech," Ace laughed. "You got beaten by your girl? That's bad!" All three pairs of eyes were instantly on the bunny.

"You and Lexi. Now!"

Ace and Lexi didn't bicker as they took their seats across from each other. "This'll be over real quick," Ace bragged, cracking his knuckles.

Lexi slapped his arm."What did I say about modesty?" Ace laughed and grabbed her hand. Alex was responsible for the countdown this time.

"3… 2… 1… Go!"

It looked to be over in a second, but suddenly, Ace let out a yelp of pain and Lexi took advantage of the distraction to shove his hand onto the table. "Boo-ya!" Lexi celebrated, thrusting her fist into the air.

"You kicked me!" Ace hissed, rubbing his leg.

"We suck _so _bad," Alex said with a laugh. "We're such cheaters."

Tech smiled. "We have a chronic inability to play fair."

"You got that right," Ace frowned, rubbing his leg. "What shoes are you _wearing_?"

"Just these." Lexi smirked and brought her foot to the table, showing off her standard running shoes.

"You're kidding! I half expected track spikes!"

"Oh, quit being a baby," Lexi smiled and looked at her husband with a small smirk. He had stood and was rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably, somewhat irritable. "You want to know something, Ace?"

"What's that?" Ace asked casually, turning around to meet her gaze as Tech and his wife began to walk away.

Lexi gave him a cocky grin. "You have no idea how cute you look right now."

**-o-**

The following morning, the partial team arrived in the throne room as Zadavia had requested. The rude blonde who had led them there the previous day was once again present and watching their every move. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long for the queen to arrive. She entered the room in a flowing lavender gown, looking gorgeous as ever, hair tied back in a neat French braid.

Zadavia folded her hands in front of her and smiled warmly at the group. "I apologize for making you wait, but there were pressing matters that needed attending to." Her eyes shifted to the door but then fixed themselves again on the collection of anthros in front of her. "I stayed up into late hours of the night thinking about what you told me and have devised a plan of action for us to take—"

Ace abruptly felt himself being pushed roughly aside and immediately glanced sharply to his right, where Lexi was supposed to be, but instantly took a second look. She was gone.

"Hey!"

Tech's voice brought Ace's attention back to the front where a sadly familiar face framed with curly ginger hair that had grown a bit since Ace had last seen him, was holding his girl's hands behind her back and a large gun pressed against her temple. The male hare couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Of course.

"You've _got_ to be kidding, Deuce!" Ace snapped instantaneously reaching behind him for his ever present Guardian Strike Sword only to have his old nemesis chuckle. He couldn't believe this revolting character was back, Ace had thought he'd seen the last of Deuce at planet Blanc almost twenty years before. And now he was here at the worst possible time.

Just his luck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. One move and she's dead." There was a loud click as Deuce cocked the gun.

Zadavia bowed her head slightly behind her general. "I'm sorry," she whispered as Deuce's robot army came by the dozens through the doors and surrounded the remaining three.

Instinctively, Ace brought his hand up to smash the 'bot's head in but as he prepared to do so, the red-haired man's voice broke through the room. "Ah-ah!" he taunted, grinding the gun into Lexi's head. "I said don't move."

"You're crazy," Ace burst out, overwhelmed with the surprised attack and Lexi and the fact that Zadavia didn't seem to be helping them. His brain wasn't functioning properly.

Deuce raised his eyebrows, bright green eyes shifting from Ace to the gun as if the bunny couldn't see it. Ace immediately shut his mouth. Deuce wasn't an idiot and certainly wasn't scared of him. He _would_ shoot Lexi.

"Am I?" The unpleasant general laughed without humor. "Do you realize how easy it's been to obtain power since the _Loser_tics split up? I'm stronger and more dominant than I've ever been and I decided this is as good a time as ever to rule the galaxy, I'm not getting any younger, am I?"

"Do you realize how cliché you sound?" Ace snapped, reaching his breaking point.

Deuce laughed. "You don't seem to realize how easily I took control of Freleng. Zadavia here practically _gave_ it to me." His gave flickered to Zadavia before locking on Ace again, all humor gone. "And I thought: 'Hm, so long as I have all this control, why not doom the one person whoever wronged me.'" He paused to see Ace's expression which was unchanging. "Because I never lose." He whispered the last part, trying to sound intimidating.

Ace flashed a quick look at Lexi who gave him a swift pleading look. He then turned and met Tech and Alex's gazes. Tech had the same _are-you-kidding-me_ aura about him and Alex just looked confused and seriously pissed.

General Deuce took no notice of either of them though except when he flicked a hand at his robot army. "Take these three downstairs." Ace felt strong, metal arms come around his body and begin dragging him toward the doors; he fought, though, struggling against his restraints. "Remember what I said, Ace," Deuce reminded him, sounding bemused.

The bunny disregarded the threat. "What are you going to do to Lex," he demanded, gaze cold.

Deuce smiled at him, clearly enjoying seeing the bunny so ruffled and in his control. "I think I'll keep your pretty lady for a while, Ace." Still with the gun to her temple, Deuce ran his hand over Lexi's slender body. Ace's eyes hardened. "Just in case you get any ideas."

Before Ace could protest any further, the robot gave a sudden surge of strength and dragged him in line with the other two.

When the 'bots finally stopped, the three of them were standing in front of a dank, impenetrable cell clearly underground. "Please tell me that's not where you're putting us…" Alex muttered to the robot as he entered a code on the cell door causing it to swing open with a bang.

Ten minutes later, the three of them were sitting on the cold, metal floor in the dark chamber. At least two of them were, Ace was pacing around the small cell, muttering curses to himself and stopping briefly once to kick the wall.

"Ace, settle down, there's nothing you could've done," Alex said in a lame attempt to soothe him.

"'Noting I could've done?" Ace quoted, hissing. "If I wasn't acting so freaking crazy I _could've _a: Used my laser vision to knock the gun out of his hand, b:—"

"Ace, compose yourself please, we need to think of a way out," Tech groaned.

Ace took a seat next to Alex on the freezing ground. "I can't believe this is happening…"

"None of us can, we need to think of a way out so we can get Lexi, though. And fast."

The male bunny groaned and lay down on his back. "I just hope she's okay…"

**-o-**

Deuce laughed, brushing his lanky ginger hair from his eyes. "_That_ was amazing; you led them right to us!" He smiled. "You, girl, are incredible."

The woman before him took a small bow and giggled. "You say that like it was a difficult job, all I had to do was show them where to go. You mostly took care of the rest." The two were sitting in a cozy room at the east side of the castle where they could watch locals and tourists bustle up and down the busy streets.

Deuce sank into a green plush chair and propped his feet upon the coffee table. "Yes, but I still have to congratulate you on –" he was cut off by the click of a door opening. They turned only to find Zadavia entering, her braided hair swishing as she turned to close the door.

"There you are," the woman beside Deuce said with a sly smile. "We were beginning to worry."

"My apologies, I was simply putting a few things in order."

"Not a problem, have a seat," Deuce stated with a smirk, gesturing to the chair across from his own. Zadavia declined the offer and instead moved and leaned against the far wall. The general's smirk slowly faded but the other blonde female walked over and stood behind him and placed her hand delicately on his broad shoulders.

"What's the plan now General Deuce?" she asked, rubbing her hands along his upper back.

He sighed contentedly and leaned back in the chair. "I thought since we have a couple of the Loonatics in custody we'd move south so we didn't disturb Acmetropolis and the other Loonatics quite yet."

"What?" A confused look spread across Zadavia's face. "I helped you with this project to get Freleng back in order after that group of rebels nearly turned this planet into anarchy! You said keeping them in custody was the only way because they wouldn't understand… You never said anything about –"

"You saw just how easily we took control of Freleng!" Deuce exclaimed. "Don't you want _more_?"

"No, I don't."

Deuce's voice turned cold. "Well that's too bad, because _we_," - he gestured to himself and the green eyed girl behind him. – "do. And if anyone, _especially_ the Loonatics, tries to stop us, we'll pick 'em off one by one." Cracking knuckles punctuated each of Deuce's last few words. "Just watch."

"Besides," the woman said, moving so that she was sitting on the arm of Deuce's chair, flipping blonde bangs from her eyes. "You know _way_ too much to bail now." Zadavia was silent but stared at the woman with hard eyes.

"What if you told the Loonatics?" Deuce cut in.

Zadavia strides swiftly over to the door. "Maybe I will."

Deuce shook his head with mock sadness. "This line is insanely overused, but," he closed his eyes. "I wish you hadn't said that."

Without another word, he conjured one of his infamous discs and aimed the blade straight at Zadavia.

The blade sliced deep into her neck and instantly the queen collapsed to the ground, blood leaving her body at an alarming rate through the wound. Deuce stood and walked over to Zadavia's twitching figure. "Last words?" he asked, the sweet tone in his voice was so crude it was sickening.

"You'll never succeed," she rasped.

The other female kneeled next to Zadavia's bloody form. "I have all the players in the game resting in the palm of my hand. There's so much more going on here than the Loonatics realize, and by the time they figure it out, it'll be too late."

"And just to show you that we can be kind and selfless too, we'll put you out of your misery." Deuce smirked. "Honors?"

The woman smirked and stood up over Zadavia, placing foot on her back and grabbing her head firmly in her hand. "Th-they'll… find…ou…t…"

"Not soon enough." There was a sickening crack as she pulled Zadavia's head back, ending the queen's life.

Silence swallowed the room as Deuce placed two fingers to Zadavia's throat. Looking up at her, he nodded to say that the job was done. Hesitently, the woman released Zadavia and was paling watching her still form. Deuce noticed and smirked. "Aww, is the poor baby scared?" Her eyes snapped up and she bared her teeth.

"What are you talking about? I killed Slam Tasmanian without issue! Give me some credit."

He snorted. "Without issue…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded. Still smirking, Deuce wrapped his arm around her waist and led her away from the scene.

"We should start with Ace," he said casually, as if talking about the weather. She didn't pretend to misunderstand him.

"No! Are you insane?" she exclaimed, tearing away from him.

"With him gone it'll be so much easier to get the rest of the team—"

"I don't care! He'll be last if at all! Think, he would be such a powerful ally if we could just get him on our side!"

"You're so bias. You thought he was amazing from the moment you first laid eyes on him. Besides, the _last_ thing I want to do is work with him."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "I think you're forgetting who's in charge here."

Deuce opened his mouth to argue more but a swift look from the pretty face looking at him shut the general up fast. Finally, he sighed in defeat. "Whatever, you're the boss."

Grinning, she placed her hands on his chest. "Thank _you_, Deuce." She turned to leave but, remembering something, turned back to him. "We'll rendezvous back at your station outside Blanc."

Deuce nodded. "Will do," he said giving her a thumbs up.

Still grinning, she turned on her heel and strutted away from him.

**-o-**

**Whew! There as a lot there. Did you get all that? MUCH longer than originally expected and not my best work ever but I hope you all enjoyed. This chapter is muy important so I hope you paid close attention to little details. I'm fully aware the scene in the throne room was really rushed, being one the most important in here. It was only a couple pages… **

**The arm wrestling scene was just a random idea I had. :P And before you flame me, I just don't see Tech being the buffest thing in the world… I also figured the guys would totally own if the girls didn't find a way to cheat… and Ace would get huffy… and Lexi would comfort him… Aww. :) **

**Anyway, hope you liked that long bit of Loonatics action. Tell me what you thought in a (you guessed it!) review! If you're thinking, 'Dang, Spud, I wish you would make Tech do this or Rev do that!' I'm always open to suggestions and thoughts on how to make this better, things they could do, etc. Up next, though, is probably the chapter 1 revision. Check that out when it gets up! ;)**

**If you DO send me any ideas with one of those lovely reviews, I'll be sure to credit you with an author's note, 'cause everyone reads these. Yep. **

**Oh, and for those of you who were wondering about the people left at HQ, chapter 8 will bring us back to see what's up with them.**

**Thanks, y'all! **

**~Spud13**


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